Free
by JamiW
Summary: The first in the series unofficially and unoriginally titled "Free". This story begins post-Frame, set between Frame and Faithfully. This is a casefile fic, and it's definitely BA.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Post-Frame, with spoilers from that episode and Faithfully (and in this story, Faithfully occurs right after Frame, as it was intended).

* * *

**Bobby POV**

* * *

I don't know how long I sat in the interrogation room, but by the time I managed to get up from the chair, Alex was already handling the booking. I knew she would. I couldn't face her though, couldn't face anyone, so I slipped out without a word.

I went home on autopilot. Instead of seeing the throng of passengers beside me on the subway, I could only see Declan's face. It was so painful to know that he had been behind Frank's death. Sure, it had been Nicole who had actually done the deed, but Declan had started the ball rolling.

And then I thought about Nicole. Alex mostly likely thought I was upset about the simple fact that she was dead, but that wasn't it. I wanted her to pay for the things she'd done. Dying was the easy way out. No, I didn't want her dead, but only because I wanted her to spend the rest of her life in prison.

My cell phone rang three times during my trip home, but I ignored it. I knew it would be Alex. Eames. Funny how I usually called her Alex in my head, even though her given name rarely slipped past my lips. I knew Alex was worried about me, about what that interview had cost me. I hoped that she had not watched it all, but I knew she probably had. I had worked so hard over the past seven years to keep the worst parts of my life from touching her, but now she had surely seen how fucked up I truly am.

She probably also thought I was mad at her, upset that she had poked into my personal life in the form of phone records and finances. I'm not. Now Ross, him I'm pissed at, but I can also understand why it had to be done. And Alex was only trying to get proof of my innocence, not search for guilt. But then Ross had to bring up my father.

At the memory of the conversation in my boss' office, I entered my apartment and slammed the door. Ross had been wrong to ask me about that, to dig into that. It wasn't any of his damn business. And now Alex knew. I hadn't wanted her to find out like that. I did want to tell her, but…not like that. What did she think of me now? I wanted to believe that it would make no difference to her, but the little boy in me that craved her love and respect more than the man in me would ever admit was scared of how she might react. Oh sure, she held it together just fine in Ross' office. That was Alex's strong suit – she held her emotions tightly behind a steel curtain. Only on a few occasions have those feelings slipped to the surface: when I reopened Joe's case, when she had to read her transfer request out loud in court…I wondered idly if it was coincidence that the occasions all related to me.

I left the lights off in my apartment, having decided that the darkness better suited my mood. After tossing my gun and badge onto the kitchen table, I headed for the fridge to grab a beer. Thoughts were swirling so fast in my head that it almost made me dizzy, so I braced my hands on the kitchen counter and just tried to breathe. That was where I stood when Alex found me.

"I gave you that key for emergencies," I told her with false heat. I wasn't angry that she had used it, but I was dangerously close to a breakdown and she didn't need to be here for that.

"I think this classifies as one," she replied. I heard her close the door, sliding the deadbolt home, but I didn't look at her or change my position.

"An emergency?" I questioned out loud while in my head I wondered, _how the hell can I get her out of here?_

"You didn't answer your phone. I was worried." I heard her footsteps as she crossed to the kitchen, stopping about two feet away from me. I could sense her hesitation. She wanted to touch me, but we don't touch. She wanted to talk to me, but we don't talk. _So what the hell was she doing here?_ Our game is simple. We work great together, but when something is bothering one of us, the other one pretends it isn't happening.

"I'm fine." She blew out a frustrated breath, and I wondered if this would be it. If this would be the furthest she was willing to go. It wasn't.

"You're not fine, Bobby!" she yelled, startling me enough that I raised my head and finally looked at her. Her face was a maelstrom of emotion, her eyes held unshed tears. "You're not fucking fine! Your brother was murdered, Nicole is dead, Declan set this whole thing up, your father…" she trailed off there, her voice catching as the tears finally fell. She was crying for_ me_? The sight of her tears was almost my undoing, I almost broke down too, but I couldn't. _Could I?_ Could I share this deep emotional pain with her? Would it help, or would it make her see me as weak?

"Alex," I began, not really sure what I was going to say but then even more tongue-tied at the realization that I had used her first name. She stood with silent tears rolling down her face, and I was frozen. I couldn't move or speak. She dropped her head into her hands, and mumbled something. I had to work hard to hear.

"I don't know why I came here. I don't know why I thought you would share any part of you with me, any part that doesn't have to do with work." She shook her head and started to turn, and that was when the real panic hit me. Not panic that she would see my emotions, but panic that she would actually leave, and then I would really be alone.

"Alex, don't," I whispered as she started for the door.

"Don't what?" she asked without turning around.

"Please don't leave," my voice said without consent from my head. God, I sounded pathetic, but I couldn't stop myself. "Please, please, just don't leave." The breakdown that had been looming since this afternoon in the interrogation room with Declan was now here, front and center. Tears streamed down my face, and the agony of the past few days hit me like a cement truck. Alex quickly came back to me and, without waiting for her consent, I pulled her into my arms and held her as tightly as I could. She didn't even try to pull away. In fact, she wrapped her arms around my waist and held on just as tight.

"Let it out, Bobby," she murmured into my chest. "It's okay."

"I'm so sorry," I told her. "So sorry that I yelled at you and…"

"It's okay. You don't need to be sorry for anything. _I'm_ sorry. You didn't deserve this, none of it. You're a good man." She kept repeating her words over and over, and at some point I started to believe her. I _didn't_ deserve this. I _was_ a good man. I didn't ask for any of this. And then something else hit me. I didn't want to be alone anymore. Alex was helping me. It felt good to let someone in and it felt good to hold her. Almost as if she could read my mind, Alex changed her mantra.

"You don't have to be alone, Bobby. You always have me. I'll always be here for you. You just have to let me in."

Two weeks later, as I drove towards the ferry station to pick Alex up, I realized I was nervous. It was a new feeling for me, to be nervous about a woman. But Alex wasn't just any woman, and despite only recently admitting it to myself, I'd known it for a long time. Nothing had happened between us, nothing sexual anyway, not yet. But things had changed, and definitely for the better. She was by my side for Frank's funeral, and she supported my decision to take some time and visit some distant family. They weren't distant any more, and I owe that to Alex.

I hadn't called her to tell her that I was coming back early, but I also hadn't expected to get called into work so soon. I had hoped to surprise her at her home, but with our jobs, things don't always work out as planned. We had been emailing and texting for the past week while I was in Minnesota, and some of them had bordered on downright x-rated, so I was curious to see how we would act with each other face to face. It's always easier to admit feelings with the written word as opposed to the spoken.

"You were supposed to be away another week," she said to me as she approached. I took a good look at her and it was all I could do not to scoop her up in my arms right then. She was wearing a skirt that fell above the knees and black leather knee-high boots. I felt a surge of lust hit me that was completely unexpected, and I had to look away, mumbling like an idiot about going to see family. _She knows that, dumbass_, I yelled at myself.

"Well, you look good," she told me, a hint of a smirk on her face. She is so much braver than I am. Our correspondence over the past week had emboldened her and it had turned me into a bumbling teenager. I needed to get her alone and show her just how much I had missed her.

"Well, we should get going," I said softly, deciding that we might have some privacy in the car. I was still unable to look at her for fear that I would ravish her right there in the ferry station parking lot, in front of God and everybody.

She followed me to the SUV, and held out her hand for the keys. I put them into her hand, and then held on for a moment, finally bringing my eyes up to meet hers. I didn't speak, but I'm pretty sure she still heard everything I had to say. After a moment, I went around to the passenger side and climbed in. She smiled at me through the windshield, and then got in the driver's side. She started the engine, but before she could put the car in gear, I put my hand on her arm to pause her motion. She turned her amber eyes to mine and looked at me expectantly. I took a deep breath. _Be brave, Goren_, I insisted.

"I missed you," I said quietly. Her smile was immediate and genuine. And beautiful.

"I missed you, too."

"No, I mean, I really missed you," I said, trying to convey everything into those few words. She took her hand off the gear shift and put it onto my cheek, gently caressing my face.

"I like the beard," she told me, her way of acknowledging all that was passing between us.

"Yeah?" I asked, my eyes closed as I reveled in the sensations that were brought on by her soft touch.

"Yeah," she replied, and I could feel the words almost as much as hear them since she had leaned across the front seat and now held her lips close to mine. We hadn't kissed before, but now I found myself unable to wait another second. I opened my eyes and closed the last distance between us. It started off sweet, and innocent, and all of the things a first kiss should be. But I'd been denying myself for too many years. After a moment of hesitancy, I pulled her into my arms as best as I could in the vehicle, and threw myself into the kiss. It went on for an eternity and yet not nearly long enough before she broke away, breathing hard. Her lips were slightly swollen and her cheeks were flushed, and my desire for her hit me even harder than before. I watched as she caught her breath, her eyes darting back and forth between my eyes and my lips. I wanted to see if there was any sign of doubt or regret, but I found none of that. Instead, she moved toward me again, and we resumed our assault on each other's mouths. I reveled in the sounds she made, soft little moans when I changed the angle of the kiss, or ran my fingers through her hair. And then I remembered where we were supposed to be, and that we were technically at work. And once again, she read my mind. We pulled away slowly.

"We have a murder scene to get to," I said needlessly.

"I know."

"We can't very well get away with the whole don't-ask-don't-tell thing if you show up there looking all hot and bothered," I teased.

"And you can't show up with that," she grinned, gesturing in the general direction of my lap. I looked down, and my face reddened at the more than obvious bulge in my jeans. I mean, I knew it was _there_, I just didn't realize it was so visible.

"It's a half hour drive," she continued casually, clearly unbothered by my blatant desire for her. "I'm sure we'll both look better by then." She turned her attention back to the gearshift, but I stopped her again.

"Work first. And then…" I trailed off, still wanting her to take all of the brave steps.

"And then you can really show me just how much you missed me." She smiled at me again, and I couldn't help myself. I had to smile back. I know, it's crazy, but I felt happy. And Declan was so wrong. It didn't have anything to do with Nicole, or Frank, or even Declan himself. It was Alex and her unfailing loyalty that helped me to finally be free.

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

**Alex POV**

* * *

I was a little nervous about just showing up unannounced, but I did it anyway.

We had just wrapped up the case, and Bobby had managed to slip out of the building before I could talk to him. Several days had passed since our little make-out session in the car at the ferry station, and I wanted to find out what was going on in his head. I had thought we were going to take that final step across the line, but so far all we had done was work.

And pretend that nothing had changed.

I listened for a moment at the door. It was quiet inside, but I was pretty sure he was home. Bobby wasn't much for television or radio, so the fact that his apartment was quiet wasn't really an indicator as to whether or not he was in there.

I took a deep breath, gathering the strength I would need to take this step for both of us, and knocked on the door.

"Eames," he said with surprise when he opened the door.

_So we're back to Eames, are we? _

I don't think so.

"It's Alex, remember?" I asked with a smirk. "The girl from the car?" Bobby blushed immediately at my reminder of our pg-rated rendezvous, and I was glad to see that there wasn't a sign of regret anywhere on his face.

"Sorry. _Alex_," he stressed. "Come on in."

He didn't ask why I was there. Another good sign.

"You left 1PP pretty quickly. You got a date or something?" I can't help it. I'm sarcastic when I'm nervous. And most other times, too.

"No," he said quickly. "No, I uh…um…" He trailed off and found something interesting on the floor.

"So you were just trying to avoid me?"

"Eames…Alex…no, that's not it. I just uh…"

"Bobby," I said to catch his attention and bring his mumbling to an end. His eyes snapped up to meet mine. I could feel the anxiety rolling off of him in waves.

"If you've changed your mind, it's okay," I told him, although on the inside, I was saying, _Hell no it's not okay!_

"Changed my mind?"

He was either utterly clueless or a damn good actor, and now my confidence was abandoning me.

Was it really only one-sided?

I knew that I wanted him, and wanted him some kind of bad, and after our kiss in the car, I'd thought it was mutual.

But I had been thinking about it in every moment of downtime over the past several days, so why wasn't he? How could he not know what I was talking about?

I had his attention now, though, and while I wished he would go back to mentally dissecting the kitchen tile, instead his eyes bore into mine like they were looking straight into my soul.

There was no backing down.

"Did you change your mind about…um..."

And there I stumbled.

Now I sounded like him! How to put it delicately?

"Remember you were going to show me how much you missed me?" I asked finally. I could feel the heat creeping up my cheeks. Why did this have to be so hard?

"I wanted to give you some time," he said finally.

"Time for what?"

"Let's sit down," he told me, gesturing towards the kitchen table. There were photos spread out on one side, along with a letter. I glanced at the picture on top.

"This is you," I said with surprise. He gave me a little smile as he sat down in the chair next to me.

"Yeah, and that's um…that's Mollie."

"She's cute. And you're smiling. Well, almost," I added as a tease. Anything to lighten the mood in the room.

"Yeah, she's a great kid." Silence loomed for another moment or two. I couldn't stop the creeping panic that Bobby was trying to figure out a way to let me down easy.

"Bobby, if you don't want to…"

"No!" he said sharply, startling me into meeting his eyes. "I _want_ to. I want _you_, Alex. I just want to make sure that this will be right for _you_."

"For me? You're worried about me?" Bobby sighed and ran his hands over his face. My hands itched to touch his face as well, clearly remembering the soft feel of his beard.

"I'm not easy, Eames," he told me. It was all I could do not to laugh.

"Bobby, we didn't just meet. I _know_ you."

"And Brady…" he continued, as though I hadn't spoken at all. Anger sparked through me at the mention of Mark Ford Brady.

"Brady is nothing to you. That DNA test means nothing."

"But it does," he insisted. "He's part of me. What if I'm capable of the same things that he's done?" He looked so sad that I couldn't resist touching him any longer. I ran one hand along the side of his face and he leaned into my palm.

"Does knowing mean that all of a sudden you're going to start acting like him?" I asked him. "You've never shown any signs of violence towards anyone. You have a conscience, and empathy, and so many other fine qualities. You've _technically_ been that man's son your whole life and you've never had homicidal tendencies. Why would that change just because you now _know_ he's your biological father?"

I waited for Bobby to mull that over.

"And people always think I'm the smart one," he said finally.

"Yeah, well, we know better, don't we?" I replied, bringing my other hand up to his face as well and pulling him closer. He chuckled a little, and I relished the sound.

"So you really want to do this?" he asked incredulously.

"I really want _you_," I insisted. Bobby relaxed into a full-fledged grin.

"You need to have your head examined," he teased as he leaned in to capture my lips.

My smartass reply was forgotten the moment his lips met mine.

And he was right.

I probably did need to have my sanity checked out.

But if this was what was like to be crazy, then maybe sanity is overrated.

* * *

It was morning, and while I have never been a morning person, I may have to rethink that. There was definitely something to be said for waking up in Bobby's bed with his hands exploring every inch of my body. He used the gentlest touch imaginable, and I kept my eyes closed for fear that if I opened them I would find that it was all a dream. But I couldn't help the soft sigh that escaped.

"Alex," he whispered softly, his lips so close to my ear that I felt the movement as well as heard the words.

_Bobby. _I thought it, but kept from saying his name out loud. It's a conditioned response. I have had a handful of lovers over the past seven years, and though technically none of them were named Bobby, that is what I called them all in my head. _But this is real_, I reminded myself.

"Alex," he said again, and this time I could hear the uncertainty in his voice. His hands faltered in their exploration. Since it was our first morning together, most likely my reluctance to acknowledge him has, of course, thrown his confidence to the wind. I opened my eyes and rolled onto my side to face him. I put his fears to rest when I snuggled into him and pressed a soft kiss to his chest. I felt him relax again and his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me even closer.

"I was almost afraid to wake up," he admitted, echoing my thoughts from earlier. I swear sometimes the man is psychic.

"Why are we awake?" I asked him playfully after noticing that it was still dark outside. "If the sun's not up, then I don't think it can be classified as morning."

"There's the grumpy nature I was expecting," he teased. I had always suspected that Bobby had a good sense of humor, but I had only seen hints of it before. I loved that he was relaxed enough to joke with me. I made a half-hearted attempt to pull away from him in mock offense. I could feel his laughter rumbling in his chest and his hands began exploring me again.

"You keep squirming against me like that, and I'll never let you out of this bed," he said in a low husky voice that sent a shot of arousal down to my toes.

"Is that supposed to be a threat? Because I think I could be pretty happy just staying right here," I admitted with a sigh as his lips moved from behind my ear down to my throat.

"I'm sorry I woke you up," he told me in between kisses. "But I was hoping we would have a little time here before we have to get up and go to work."

"That is just the best damn idea ever," I said. Bobby rolled me onto my back and situated him self over top of me. "But if you mention work again while we're in bed together…" I trailed off as I lost my train of thought under Bobby's ministrations. How was I supposed to think with the way he used his mouth and his hands?

Unfortunately, a cell phone chose that exact moment to ring.

"Fuck," I said crossly, causing Bobby to laugh.

"Not exactly just yet…"

"Shut up," I told him with a roll of my eyes. "Is it mine or yours?" I asked as I reached for the nightstand in the dark.

"I left mine in the kitchen." I grabbed the offending equipment and flipped it open.

"Eames."

"Eames?"

"Yeah Captain, you called me."

"Why are you answering Goren's phone at five o'clock in the morning?" My eyes squeezed shut in horror as my mind scrambled to come up with an answer.

"Oh, we swapped by mistake at work today. Yesterday. We're going to switch back in the morning. Or I guess in a few hours." I was stammering on like an idiot and couldn't seem to stop myself. "So what's going on, Captain?"

"Dead body in Hell's Kitchen. I need you two on it."

"Of course." I listened as he gave me the particulars.

"I'm assuming you'll get in touch with Goren?"

"Yes, Captain." I clicked off the cell phone and tossed it in the general direction of the nightstand. "In the kitchen? Really, Bobby?" He had the good sense to look sheepish.

"I swear I thought I'd left it there."

"We've been in a relationship for twelve hours, and we're already slipping up," I grumbled as I rolled out of the bed. I clicked on the lamp and started gathering my clothes before I realized that Bobby hadn't moved. I turned to look at him.

"I'm really sorry," he said, his eyes cast downward. How could I have forgotten already about his under-inflated sense of self-worth? I got back on the bed and crawled across to him on my hands and knees. I picked up his chin with my fingers and kissed him hard.

"I wasn't fussing at you. I was fussing at me," I told him. "I'm the one who grabbed the phone without looking at it. And this changes nothing except that maybe we look at getting different ring tones or something, okay?"

"Okay," he replied, looking happier.

"I'm sorry we have to cut things short this morning." We both got out of bed together and I headed for the shower. "Can you get some coffee going? We need to get out of here quickly."

"Yeah, so what did the Captain say? We weren't on the overnight call list. Why did he want us?"

"It's Rodgers' ex-husband. His body was found in Hell's Kitchen this morning."

"Holy shit."

"Exactly."

TBC...


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Rodgers' ex, Marcus Rodgers (a.k.a. dead body), is completely a figment of my imagination.

* * *

**Bobby POV**

I found it impressive that we made it to the crime scene within an hour of Ross' phone call. Of course, Ross didn't look impressed, but he didn't know that he'd interrupted us in bed, literally seconds away from consummating for the second – no, third - time this new-found relationship. I decided I needed to keep that little tidbit to myself.

"What've we got, Captain?"

"Marcus Rodgers, 52 years old."

"You know, it's probably not a good idea for you to be here," I told him, interrupting his assessment. Ross looked at me sharply but Alex backed me up.

"He's right, Captain. The murder of your girlfriend's ex-husband? We need to keep you at arm's length." Ross continued to stare at me intently. Alex pushed past us to get a closer look at the body.

"You two get your phones straightened out?" Ross asked me. I didn't back down from his challenge. There was no way in hell that he had any idea as to what the truth of the situation was, and I was not about to blink.

"Yes sir. We'll check in with you when we know more about the body. I'm guessing that another M.E. is on the way?"

"Jenkins should be here shortly."

"So how long has the ex been an ex?" I asked, deciding I could get a little background information from him.

"About two years."

"Any animosity between them?"

"Show me a divorced couple where there isn't." Ross clearly didn't like my questions, but that was too damn bad. He'd showed me once before how easily his judgment could be swayed by a woman.

"I don't suppose you can alibi Rodgers if it comes up," I ventured.

"It's a little early to be asking that, don't you think, Detective?"

"Probably, but I'm hoping to rule her out as quickly as possible. You know the ex is always on the suspect list." I waited for Ross to answer my question, but I had a feeling I knew what he was going to say. Surely if he could alibi her, he would've said so already.

"No, I can't," he replied shortly. Ross walked away from me then, so I wandered away to join Alex. She was squatting next to the body.

"Somebody was pissed," she said dryly. "I'm counting at least ten stab wounds." She stood up then and looked at me. "This one might get ugly. You could have used a little more tact with the captain." I nodded at her in agreement.

"Ten stab wounds generally indicates a crime of passion. We need to find out all we can about Marcus Rodgers, but we're probably going to have to look into Rodgers' life, too." Even as I said it, I didn't like the sound of it. I knew first hand, and all too recently, how invasive it felt to be the suspect of an investigation.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll have a firm alibi," Alex offered. I shook my head even as I knelt down to get a closer look at the victim.

"Captain wasn't with her."

"I heard. He didn't sound very pleased that you asked." I leaned in closer to inspect the stab wounds.

"This really doesn't look good," I said, my voice filled with dread. As much as I was disappointed in Rodgers for spilling my secret to Ross about the paternity test, deep down I thought she was basically a good person. I didn't want trouble for her, but it looked like trouble had found her.

"What is it, Bobby?"

"It looks like he was stabbed with something small and very sharp. Like a scalpel." I stood up and met Alex's eyes.

"Shit. We need to talk to Rodgers."

We spent another half an hour looking over the scene. Jenkins arrived and did a precursory exam. He confirmed my suspicion about the murder weapon – it was likely a scalpel or similar instrument. The time of death was estimated to be around midnight. It was nearing seven a.m. before Alex and I made our way back to the SUV.

"I don't know if I'm the best one to be working on this. Rodgers is still none too happy with me, and to be honest, the feeling is mutual," I told her as I climbed in the passenger side.

"You're the best one for any case, even on your worst day, Bobby," Alex replied. She was looking at me, but I didn't meet her eyes. I heard her sigh. "You never apologized to her, did you?"

"Um…no…I uh…"

"Of course you didn't. What was I thinking?" Alex muttered as she started the engine. Then she turned to me and put her hand on my arm. "Bobby, you have to apologize."

"But Alex, that test was confidential!" I argued. "She promised me it would be private!"

"And she was wrong to break that trust," she agreed. But before I could be too smug about that, she continued. "And _you_ were wrong for tearing up her autopsy suite. Your actions were unprofessional, and _that_ is what you need to apologize for." Her words stung a little, and I was caught for a moment, unable to move. _What the hell?_

"Alex…" I began, but I didn't know what to say. The more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right. Whatever sin Rodgers had committed against me did not warrant my response. In my defense, I _had_ been having a _very_ bad week, but still…

"Okay."

"Okay?" she asked. She had obviously been expecting a fight. She relaxed her fingers where they had been gripping my arm.

"You're right. I'll clear the air with her before we move on to..." I waved my hand around in the air, unsure how to finish the sentence.

"Grilling her as a suspect?" Alex offered with a wry grin.

"Yeah," I agreed. I laid my head back on the seat as Alex maneuvered us into morning traffic. I wasn't crazy about the idea of making nice with Rodgers, but I did agree that it needed to be done. I allowed myself a moment to sulk about it.

"You know, just because you're sleeping with me doesn't mean you get to start telling me what to do," I said with feigned resentment. Alex burst out laughing, and the sound caught me so off guard, I found myself laughing with her.

"I swear, Bobby, that was the last thing in the world I expected to come out of your mouth!"

We chuckled all the way to the morgue.

Rodgers was on duty, but had been given strict orders to not come anywhere near the body of her ex-husband. She looked liked she had been working all night, and I actually hoped that she had. At least it would be a solid alibi.

"Dr. Rodgers," I began after her assistant had wandered away to leave us alone.

"I know. You need to question me."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Alex said sincerely. "You know this is just a formality, right? We need to eliminate you as a suspect." Alex's words rang familiar in my head, and I felt that pit in my stomach again. That was exactly what she had said to _me_ not so long ago. Alex's eyes met mine and I could see that she was reminded of the same thing. I could also see how much having to investigate me had cost her, and I felt bad for raking her over the coals about it. But, I had apologized – several times, in fact – for accusing her so irrationally that day in Ross' office. And she had accepted my apology, so we were good on that front. But Rodgers…

"Eames, could you give us the room for a moment?" I asked. I needed to bite the bullet and get this business out of the way.

"It's not necessary for her to leave," Rodgers countered. I hoped it wasn't because she was afraid to be alone with me. She took a deep breath before she continued.

"Goren, I think you're a great detective, and from what I know of you, a kind man of good moral character. I am very sorry that I broke your trust, and I hope you can understand that I only did it because I was concerned for you. I wanted to help you. But, I realize that it wasn't my place to make that decision, and I hope we can move past this so that we can continue our working relationship." To say I was stunned would be an understatement. _She was concerned about me? _

Alex cleared her throat, and I realized it was a tactic to get me to say something. I'd been stunned into silence for far too long and Rodgers was starting to fidget.

"Um…okay. Actually, I wanted to say that I'm sorry I confronted you about it while you were in the middle of an autopsy. That was very unprofessional of me, and it won't happen again." We stared at each other for a moment longer, and then Alex once again broke the ice.

"Okay, now that the after-school special portion of this investigation is out of the way, can we get back to business?"

* * *

It was two o'clock before Alex forced me into a lunch break.

"I'm starving, Bobby. We skipped breakfast, you know."

"Eames, that almost sound like a whine."

"Shut up and bring your wallet."

"There you go, bossing me around again," I grumbled as I followed her to the elevator. Of course, I still didn't mean it. I would follow her to the end of the world.

"Is it worth it?" she asked me once the elevator doors had closed and we were safe from prying eyes.

"Is what worth it?"

"Me bossing you around. Is sleeping with me worth it?" If not for the trace of a smirk, along with my intimate knowledge of how Alex's mind works, I might have thought she was serious. But she wasn't.

"You boss me around anyway. And hell yes, it's worth it," I added with a smile. "I'm just wondering when we can get back to what we started this morning."

"As soon as possible," she said in a husky voice. She grabbed my tie and pulled me down for a quick, hard kiss. She released me right as the elevator pinged our arrival on the first floor, and then she walked out as though nothing had happened. Damn, she was good. I gathered my wits about me as quickly as I could and followed her out onto the sidewalk.

Once we were settled and had placed our order in a diner up the street from 1PP, I pulled out my binder to go over our notes.

"So Rodgers has no alibi. She got off of work at eight, and was home alone by nine. She was still there when Ross called her with the news."

"You know, he shouldn't have made that call. It may come back on him later. We should've been the one to talk to her first," Alex said, and I was glad that she had said it because I was thinking it, but I hate to always be the one to speak out against Ross. True, there was no love lost between us, but he was still my boss and I was trying to learn to respect him.

"Hopefully we'll be able to clear her, and then it won't matter," I said. "But so far, it's not looking good. Marcus Rodgers had no current girlfriend, he lived alone, was well liked by his colleagues and peers."

"And Rodgers had a beef with him because he was bitching about paying his alimony."

"Right. He wasn't in debt to anyone except her. In fact, his finances look pretty healthy, so he was only withholding it on principle. He's a chiropractor, she's a medical examiner – he probably figured they both made the same amount of money."

"Except that she put off her medical school until he finished chiropractic college. It put her three years behind in her career," Alex added. It was a valid point. And a judge had agreed, ordering Marcus to pay $1,000 per month alimony. It wasn't a large sum, but it was the idea of it that had apparently made Marcus buck the system.

"He was in debt to her for $12,000," I said. "So he doesn't pay her for a year, and then she suddenly goes crazy on him?"

"Not only that, but this is Rodgers. She doesn't go crazy on anyone. You don't really think she did it, do you?"

"No, but my opinion doesn't mean shit unless we find out who really did it."

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

**Alex POV**

* * *

I knew it had been a good idea to get Bobby to take a vacation. And he rocked the swimming trunks like nobody's business. The sun was warm on my skin, and life wasn't going to get much better.

"Alex."

I looked up at Bobby. He looked so handsome that I wanted to just pull those trunks right off of him so that I could have my way with him.

"Alex."

Something wasn't quite right. His voice didn't seem to be coming from his mouth.

"Alex, honey. Wake up."

Shit. I should've known it was too good to be true. I opened my eyes and looked around the conference room where Bobby and I had spent the past eight hours. Slowly, things came into focus. Printouts, files, and Chinese take-out containers.

"Did you just call me honey?" I asked. Bobby instantly looked sheepish.

"It's okay. I looked around first to make sure no one was close enough to hear," he said softly. I stood up and stretched. He was right. Not only was no one close enough to hear, but there was hardly anyone around at all. The whole office was a ghost town.

"I wasn't chastising you. I was just checking to see if I was still dreaming at that point." Bobby looked at me and tilted his head a little, encouraging me to share more. I glanced around to be completely sure we still had privacy.

"Yes, I was having a nice little dream about a beach, and us, and you wearing some sexy swimming attire," I admitted.

"I hope to God it wasn't Speedos." I barked out a laugh and shook my head.

"I think we'd probably better focus on the case at hand here, Goren. What did you find? I'm sure you woke me up for a reason."

"Yeah, I did. You were snoring and disturbing my train of thought." There it was again - that lovely sense of humor. I gave him a big smile and then threw a fortune cookie at him.

"Hey! I see an assault charge in your future!"

"Ha ha, funny man. Now what did you find?"

Bobby reached across the table and picked up a printout, and just like that, we were back. Goren and Eames, I mean. It was comforting to know that this relationship thing really could work. It seemed as though we would be able to turn that work switch on and off as needed.

"They fast-tracked the autopsy and I got a faxed version of it a little bit ago."

"And?"

"Two hairs, bottled blonde. They were intermingled with the decedent's hair."

"Damn," I groaned. Hairs on the body certainly didn't have to have come from the killer, but it did mean it was likely that Rodgers, or another bleach blonde, had seen Marcus on the night of his murder. And Rodgers didn't mention that.

"And?" I asked again, knowing by the look in Bobby's eyes that there was more.

"They found trace evidence of vaginal fluids. The victim had sex prior to his death." My eyebrows flew up at that statement, but Bobby shook his head.

"We don't have DNA back yet, so we don't know if it was Rodgers or not. But it could've been. And the hairs might not be hers, but they could be. We're going to need to talk to her again."

"And we need to put a rush on that damn DNA test." Bobby nodded at me, and then started flipping through papers.

"You know, I think maybe we've been looking at this thing all wrong, Eames. We know, even though we can't prove it yet, that Rodgers didn't kill her husband."

"And even if she did see him the night of his death, she would certainly have good reason to try to keep that from us," I added, thinking about Ross. "It wouldn't make her guilty."

"And let's face it. If Rodgers' were going to kill someone, she's too smart to use a tool of her own trade. She would have used some kind of untraceable poison or something."

"Right," I agreed readily. Lord knew we had seen enough of that in our time. Rodgers herself had given us ideas as to what types of drugs would kill without being found in a toxicology report.

"I've looked through her personal data," Bobby continued. "She pays her bills on time and in full. She doesn't need that alimony and even if she did want the money, she'd never kill to get it. And Marcus, he didn't seem to have any enemies at all. While you were playing Sleeping Beauty there, I went through his financials with a fine-toothed comb. Nothing. He's squeaky clean."

"So what's the angle?" I asked, but then he gave me that look and I just _knew_. I can't explain it. I wouldn't even want to _try_ to explain it. But I knew where he was going.

"You think someone is setting her up." Bobby nodded at me and gave me a big grin. He loves it when I'm right there in the game with him.

"I think that she's probably made a _lot_ of enemies. Think of all the times she's testified at trials, and how often her findings are what puts somebody away. What better way to get revenge?"

"Somebody's gas lighting _her_."

* * *

We went home simply because it was after midnight and we'd been up since five o'clock that morning. We had a brief, awkward moment where it wasn't clear if I would be staying at his apartment or not, but I decided that honesty was the best policy. I _wanted_ to stay at his place, even if we weren't going to have sex. So far, I'd only had the chance to spend one night in his bed, but that one night made me hope that many more nights would follow. And there was no reason why not tonight.

"Are you sure it's a good idea? We'll have to get up early tomorrow," Bobby said as I parked the SUV.

"We got up early this morning," I countered.

"You don't have to. I mean, I don't want you to feel like you have to. I mean…"

"Bobby," I said, stopping him in the hallway of his apartment building. He turned to look me in the eyes. "I know what you mean. I _don't_ feel like I have to. I want to."

"It's just that I don't…um…I…uh…" he stammered, dropping his eyes to the floor again. _Man, his family had really done a number on him!_ It was frustrating as hell!

"Do you not want me to?" I asked finally, trying to hide my irritation.

"It's not that. I just…"

"Oh for God's sake, Bobby, just say it."

"I don't want you to get sick of me. We spent all day together, and now we're going to spend all night together, and then all day tomorrow…you're going to get tired of me pretty quickly."

"Believe me, when the time comes – and it will – that I need some time to myself, you'll be the first one I tell, okay? And I'm sure there will be lots of times that you want some you time. But tonight, we're both exhausted, and I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed sleeping in your bed with you last night, and I'd like to do it again tonight. Okay?"

"Okay," he said, breathing out a sigh of relief. That settled, we got onto the elevator. "So, you just want to _sleep_ in my bed tonight?" Bobby asked in a teasing tone, his insecurities gone again for the moment.

"Yes. I'm exhausted. Aren't you?" I asked, even though I was getting less so by the minute. The elevator seemed to have shrunk in size and Bobby's considerable bulk was looming over me.

"Hmm...you just want to _sleep_ in my bed...So does that mean we're having sex in the kitchen this time?" he whispered into my ear after kissing his way up my neck. "Because I think the kitchen counter might be just the right height…" All thoughts of sleep escaped me as he picked me up and pinned me between the wall and his body. He put all his focus into exploring every inch of skin that was exposed.

"Bobby," I mumbled after a few minutes of heaven.

"Hmm?"

"We're still in the elevator. We're on your floor," I said with a smile. He slowly put me back on my feet.

"I'm sorry. I got a little side-tracked," he said with a grin as he pushed the button to open the doors again. Thankfully, no one else had called for the elevator. We held hands as we walked down the hall, and it was a strange feeling. I couldn't remember the last time I held hands with someone. I liked it, and I guess Bobby did, too, because he didn't want to let go. He got out his keys and let us into his apartment with my hand still clutched tightly in his.

Once inside, we went about the task of taking off our shoes, weapons, badges, and phones.

"You're tired. You should go get ready for bed," Bobby said softly. I was anything but tired now. The desire that ran through me caught me off guard. I had always known that Bobby would be a good lover. I'd had a good dream or two about him in the past. Okay, more than one or two, but still...the reality of the passion that flowed through me was staggering. There was no way in hell I was tired now.

"What if I don't want to go to bed?" I asked as I slowly began to unbutton my blouse. His eyes followed my fingers' movements until the piece of silk dropped to the floor.

"What if I said that I'm wide awake now?" Bobby still hadn't moved, but I definitely had his complete attention. He's a visual kind of guy, so I hoped he would like the show. It wasn't normally my thing, to try to be sexy and strip in front of a guy, but for some reason I really wanted to do it now. So I undid the fixture on my slacks and let them drop to the floor before stepping out of them. I stood in front of him now dressed only in my bra and panties. I hadn't planned on seducing Bobby when I got dressed in a rush at five o'clock this morning, so they weren't especially sexy and they didn't match, but I guess it didn't matter.

When I looked at Bobby, my breath caught. The predatory look in his eyes made me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. And it made my knees weak with anticipation. I don't think he has any idea just how sexy he is, or how much power he has over me. I might be the one who seems to always be in control, but that's just an illusion.

"You should run away, Alex," Bobby said in a low, husky voice. "You know you could do better than me." The intensity didn't leave his eyes, and my arousal just cranked up another notch. I think maybe he was losing a handle on _his_ control, and maybe he thought it would scare me, but it didn't. I would never be afraid of him.

"I don't think so, Bobby," I said as I let my eyes travel over the length of his body. Then I turned and walked away from him into the kitchen. He didn't follow me, but I could feel his eyes still on me. I went to the counter and put my back to it so that I could meet his gaze, and then slowly and deliberately lifted myself onto the countertop.

"Are you coming?"

TBC...


	5. Chapter 5

**Bobby POV**

* * *

We were back at 1PP at eight o'clock. We probably should've gone in earlier, and if it had just been me, I would have, but Alex had hijacked my morning plans. Not that I'm complaining. After last night, I'll never look at my kitchen the same way again, and now after this morning, my bathroom will be forever seen in a new light as well. If we keep this up, by the end of the week I'll be enamored with every inch of my apartment.

Anyway, that's why it was eight o'clock when we rode the elevator up to the eleventh floor. After getting out, we transformed back to being Goren and Eames before going into Ross' office.

"Tell me where you are with the Rodgers' murder," he said simply, as though he had no personal stake in it.

"We need to re-interview Dr. Rodgers this morning," Alex began. That was all she could say before Ross interrupted.

"Why? You know she's not involved in this."

"Captain," I started. "There is some evidence that brings into question her exact whereabouts two nights ago." I decided to leave it vague so that I could gage his response.

"What kind of evidence?" he asked curtly, barely keeping his temper in check. I looked at Alex, silently encouraging her to finish. She and I had discussed our course of action on the way into work this morning. Ross wasn't going to like it, and it would be much better if it came from her.

"Sir, I think we need to sit on our information for awhile," Alex told him in her no-nonsense tone. _God, I love her_, I thought. And then I thought, _what?_ And then I started to freak out a little. I was sitting in Ross' office, listening to Alex tell our boss that he needed to step back from the investigation due to the fact that he was in a close personal relationship with a suspect, and I'm thinking that I'm in love with Alex? _Get a grip, Goren. Work now, relationship later. _

I took a deep breath and focused on the conversation at hand. Alex was delivering the knock-out punch.

"We need to take a close look into Dr. Rodgers' life. That includes everyone who is close to her." I watched Ross closely as the implication of Alex's statement became clear. I tried not to smile, but I had to admit that I was getting a perverse kind of pleasure out of having him on the hot seat this go-round.

"You're going to look at me," Ross said.

"Yes, Captain."

"You're going to pull my financials, my credit history."

"Yes, sir."

"And I'm supposed to think that this isn't some back-assed way of your partner trying to get back at me?" Ross didn't shout, hardly ever, but he was as close to shouting as I've ever seen. And he was still just looking at Alex as though I wasn't even in the room. That was fine with me because I probably had a giddy look on my face.

"Captain, I assure you that we are just doing a thorough investigation. We don't believe that Liz committed this murder, but someone wants us to think that she did. And to find out who, we have to look at every possible avenue. Surely you understand." Alex was always the diplomat. I was so glad she was anchoring this discussion, because I had a feeling that if it were me, I'd be doing a happy dance on his desk while laughing uncontrollably. The justice of this situation was beginning to restore my faith in the system.

"Very well, then. Do what you have to do. But I'm sure I don't need to remind you that you are professionals, and that whatever information you obtain will remain confidential."

"Of course, Captain," Alex assured him.

"Yes sir," I added after Alex gave me a pointed glance. But now my curiosity was piqued. I knew we had to look at Ross, but I also assumed that there was nothing to find. Was he reminding us about confidentiality just so that we wouldn't talk about how much child support he paid? I don't think so. There was something else there, and I was looking forward to finding it. And okay, maybe that makes me a little bit vindictive, but I don't care.

I followed Alex out of the captain's office and back to our desks.

"That went well," I said, unable to keep the amusement out of my voice.

"I don't think you're supposed to be enjoying this quite so much," she told me. But then she smirked. She was enjoying it, too.

"Let's get out of here before he sees us laughing," I said softly, leaning towards her slightly. I caught a whiff of her scent, and had to take a step away from her so that I didn't give in to my desire to bury my nose in her hair.

Eames nodded her consent and grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair.

"Seriously, though Bobby, I do dread having to talk to Rodgers about this. Asking her about her sex life is way over the line of personal."

"I know. And I don't even want to _think_ about her sex life with Ross." Alex made a point of shuddering visibly as she led the way to the elevator.

"Oh thanks," she said once the doors had closed on us. "Now I have that image in my head."

"What does she see in him?" I asked idly.

"I have absolutely no idea."

"Of course, people might ask the same of you," I said quietly.

"They might," she replied. She flicked her eyes to the numbers on the wall. My eyes followed and saw that we were passing the fourth floor. She stepped closer to me and grabbed my tie. She seemed to like to do that, and I have no problem with that whatsoever.

"And if they did, I would have to tell them that you are a sweet, smart, sexy man."

The elevator stopped at the ground floor, and she stepped back from me just before the doors opened. But not before her words, spoken so low and seductively, did a number on my libido. I adjusted my binder in front of me and followed Alex to the SUV.

* * *

"You want me to take the lead on this?" Alex asked me when we arrived at the morgue. We were alone in the darkened hallway outside of the autopsy suite where Rodgers was working. We had made our presence known, and were waiting for her to wash up.

"No, that's okay. I'll do it. She already doesn't like me."

"Bobby, you know that's not true. She was wrong, _so_ very wrong, to tell Ross about that test, but she didn't do it to hurt you. And she didn't tell him the results, only that the test existed."

"I know. But how can I know that she'll keep her word about anything now?"

"I don't know," Alex sighed. "And to be honest, I'm pretty pissed at her myself. When I first found out what she'd done, I wanted you to press charges against her, get her license revoked."

"You did?" I was surprised. Alex had never expressed that opinion to me.

"I did," she admitted. "It just pissed me off so much that one more person in your life had screwed you over." Alex glanced from side to side in the empty hallway before looking up at me, and I was surprised to see unshed tears in her eyes. "And then I just wanted to come down her and kick her ass myself."

"Alex…" I was touched by the depth of her emotion over this wrong that Rodgers had done to me. But Alex waved me off and took a deep breath.

"But then I realized that she had just made a horrible mistake. She's always been good to us, good to you. She's always respected your interest in her work. I just don't see her doing something like that out of spite."

"I don't think she would either. Of course, I don't think I'm going to share any secrets with her any time soon, but I also know she's not a killer. So let's just get this mess out of the way, okay?" I wanted to hug her. It was so new for me to have someone that cared about me enough to get upset about how someone else treated me. _Does that mean she loves me? _The thought terrified and elated me at the same time. I looked at Alex and realized that she was studying me closely. I wondered what she saw, but it was at that moment that Rodgers came into the hallway.

"Detectives. I'm sorry to keep you waiting. You have more questions for me?" Rodgers sounded tired. I had a feeling that she knew exactly what our questions were going to entail.

"We should probably go somewhere with a little privacy," Alex suggested.

"This is fine. No one's down here but me. Let's just get this out of the way."

Alex and I looked at each other. I had said I would handle this, but I suddenly felt sorry for Rodgers. Since I knew exactly how she felt, having her life examined by prying eyes, I just couldn't bring myself to do it to her.

"It's okay. Just ask," she encouraged. I gave Alex an almost imperceptible nod, and she took over.

"Can you tell us again exactly what you did after leaving work at eight o'clock, night before last?"

"You know I went to see him, don't you?" she asked with a sigh. "I don't know why I thought I could lie to the best two detectives in New York."

"Why did you lie?" I asked gently.

"I didn't want Danny to know, and I didn't think it mattered."

"You kept something from me because you were afraid I would tell the captain?" I asked, barking out a laugh. She chuckled a little bit along with me.

"I know. It's ironic, isn't it?"

"Liz, we're not reporting to the captain on this investigation," Alex said. "Anything that proves to be irrelevant to the case will be left out of our report. We just need to get a better feel for the timeline so that we can find out who killed Marcus."

"How do you know I didn't do it?"

"Did you?" I asked.

"No."

"Did you have sex with him?" Alex asked. She apparently decided to get that one out of the way.

"No," Rodgers answered emphatically. "No, I did not."

"Then why did you go to see him? And why is it such a secret?"

"I went because I wanted to tell him some news in person. I wanted to tell him that I was letting him off the hook for the back-alimony and that he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. Danny didn't want me to go see him."

"Why not?" Alex asked.

"He said it was because Marcus didn't deserve to take up any time out of my busy day."

"But you think differently," I prompted.

"I think he was a little jealous. Marcus and I were together for a long time. And he's a good looking guy. I think he was apprehensive about me going to his house alone."

"He was jealous," I stated. "He thought there was still something between you two?"

"No. I don't know. Maybe. We married and divorced twice. I think that made Danny nervous."

"Okay," I said, ready to move on, but still enjoying the insights into the captain. _A little insecure, Boss Man? _I laughed on the inside. "So what happened?"

"I didn't want to go to his house. I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea," she added, looking at Alex. Alex just shrugged. "I met him at a restaurant about a block away from where he was found."

"Liz…" Alex said with frustration.

"I know, I should have told you. Anyway, I got there at around nine. He was at the bar and he was dressed nice, like he was meeting someone."

"Someone other than you? Or do you think he dressed up for you?" I asked.

"Someone other than me. I had one drink with him. I told him my news, and then I left."

"Did you hug him goodbye?"

"Yes, I did. And then I went home, and I was there by about ten-thirty. I called Danny from my home phone." We already knew that since we had pulled her phone records. The call had lasted five minutes.

"And you didn't tell the captain where you'd been?"

"No. That's why I didn't want to tell you either."

Alex and I looked at each other, each of us trying to decide what other questions we needed answered.

"I've got to ask," I said finally. "Why were you so willing to drop the alimony?"

"I can't legally accept it anymore," she said slowly and to my surprise, a blush began to creep up her cheeks.

"Because…" Alex said, waiting for Rodgers to finish.

"Because I got married. Danny and I got married."

TBC…


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks to all who are still reading (and reviewing!). A big thanks to **mitzvahgirl** and **heathersinaz** for...well.. you know.

**Alex POV**

* * *

Bobby and I left the morgue and headed back to the office.

"Why would he care if anyone knew? Wouldn't that make you mad if you were her?" Bobby asked when we entered the conference room.

"He probably thinks it's unprofessional. I don't know," I sighed. I sat down across from Bobby and began flipping through the reports, but I thought more about his question.

"Yeah, it probably would make me mad because it's not like there are regulations that prevent them from being together."

"Not like us, you mean," he said, keeping his eyes focused on the table.

"Bobby," I began, waiting for him to look at me. Finally he brought his eyes up to mine. "I can keep us a secret until my dying day if it means we get to stay together."

The smile he gave me melted my toes and I had the urge to just jump across the table and ravish him right then and there, but somehow I managed to hold back. I returned his smile instead. He held my gaze for a moment longer, and then pulled out his binder.

"This is going to make Ross even more of a suspect now. He's Rodgers' husband, and he was jealous of the ex."

"We both know that Ross is no killer," I reminded Bobby.

"I know. I'm not trying to say that I think he is. But we need to follow protocol here and rule him out. We need to get those records ordered, and find out if he has an alibi."

I glanced across the squad room at Ross' office, but saw that it was dark. He had slipped out while we were at the morgue, so the alibi would have to wait. Bobby placed the call to get the wheels turning on pulling phone records and financials for our boss. I used my cell to put in a request for records of cases where Rodgers had testified at trial. There would be thousands, and my eyes were already burning just thinking about the strain that was surely coming.

"Okay, so Rodgers says that she left Marcus at about ten o'clock," I said after Bobby and I had both finished our calls. "And he was dressed up. So some time between ten and midnight, he changed clothes, had sex, and managed to get himself killed."

"Right. Liz said that she hugged Marcus so the hairs that were found intermixed with his are most likely attributed to that."

"We need to talk to the bartender who worked that night. Maybe he saw Marcus pick up a woman there after Liz left. He lived in Bed-Stuy, so it's unlikely he would've had time to go home."

"And even more unlikely that he went there, and then had his body dumped back in Hell's Kitchen within a block of where Rodgers had a drink with him."

"Right. And Marcus didn't look like the kind of guy that would have sex with someone in an alley. He didn't own a car, so either he met someone who lived nearby, or he went to a hotel. There are a few hotels in that general area. We should show his picture to some of the desk clerks."

"And that still doesn't explain why he would've changed clothes."

My cell phone rang, interrupting our train of thought. Bobby smiled when he realized that I had changed my ring tone.

"Eames."

"Detective, this is Scott in the lab. We've got a preliminary match on that vaginal fluid from your Rodgers murder."

"A match on file? Who?"

"Elizabeth Rodgers." _What the fuck?_ I couldn't believe it.

"Are you sure?"

"Like I said, it's a preliminary match. I won't be testifying in court about it yet. But it's a match."

"Okay, thanks Scott." I hung up the phone and looked at Bobby. I felt a little sick. I thought we had reached an understanding with Rodgers, and I considered her a friend. But she had lied to us again.

"What is it?" Bobby asked me carefully.

"Preliminary match on the vaginal fluid," I told him numbly. "It's Rodgers."

* * *

Bobby was quiet all the way back to the morgue. I wanted to say something that would make things better, but there was nothing to say. I was pissed, too.

When we got to the hallway, I stopped him by placing my hand on his arm.

"We'll get this straightened out," I assured him with a confidence that I didn't feel. "Something's going on here, and we'll get to the bottom of it."

"I know. I'm not going to flip out or anything."

I don't know why, but I felt such a strong need to reassure him that I had to do it right then and there. I slid my hand down to his and squeezed his fingers.

"_I _will always be here for you, Bobby. And I will _always_ tell you the truth. No matter what anyone else does or says, you can _always_ count on me. You know that, right?"

Bobby took a deep breath and nodded his head. He glanced around the hallway and then pulled away from me to turn the corner. Away from Rodgers' office. I peeked my head around the corner to see what he was doing, and was surprised to find him beckoning me towards him.

I took a few steps down the darkened hall after him and was just about to ask him where he was going when he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to him in a tight hug. I was so stunned that for a moment, I didn't do anything, but eventually I reached my arms around him and settled my cheek snugly against his chest.

"Thank you," he whispered, and my heart broke. My love for him coursed through my body like a storm at sea.

"You're welcome," I whispered back fiercely. It only lasted another minute and then we both let go. I took a step back, and then another. I looked at him, and he nodded at me. We both proceeded down the hall, prepared to face Rodgers.

What we weren't prepared for was Ross.

We entered the autopsy suite and there he was, talking softly to Rodgers against the far wall. They both looked up sharply when we walked in.

"What the hell is going on here, Captain?" I asked, not in any kind of mood to mix words.

"I'm on my own time," he replied. He rose to his full height and tried to regain upper hand in the situation. "And you need to watch you tone with me, Detective."

"We're trying to investigate a murder here," I continued, my tone still every bit as insolent. "And we can't seem to get a straight answer." Bobby stood silently beside me, and I knew he was analyzing their body language. I was waiting for one of them to blink, but they both just looked confused.

"Detective, I apologized for not being straight with you the first time we talked. But when we spoke this morning, I was completely honest."

She looked sincere and that threw me off. I looked at Bobby and I could tell he was on the same page with me.

"I think we should speak with you in private," I suggested. I had to confront Liz about her having had sex with Marcus, but I didn't need to do it in front of Ross. Bobby was on board.

"Captain, why don't you and I step out into the hallway?" Bobby proposed. "I have a couple of questions for you as well."

"We're done with secrets, Detectives," Rodgers told us. "Anything you have to say to me, you can say it in front of Danny."

"Okay then," I said. "You told us that you did not have sex with Marcus Rodgers on the night of his murder."

Liz looked very surprised that this was my opening statement. I don't know what she was expecting, but the sex angle wasn't it.

"That's right. I didn't."

"Then why does our lab report say otherwise?"

"What?" Ross and Rodgers yelled simultaneously. The stress in the room was palpable.

"It's got to be a mistake," Liz said. Then she looked at Ross. "Danny, I swear I didn't. It has to be a mistake."

Bobby and I looked at each other. Was the report wrong? How could that be? But if Liz was lying, then she was one hell of an actress.

"You need to have that sample run again. Or better yet, get another sample and run it. Somehow your sample got contaminated," Rodgers insisted.

"So you're going to stand by your story," I said finally. This case was going off the rails of common sense. I had no idea what to think.

"Yes," she said firmly. "I absolutely, one-hundred percent stand by my story."

"Okay. We'll leave that for now," Bobby agreed as he made a note in his binder. Then he looked up at Ross.

"Now, Captain Ross. Where were you between the hours of ten and midnight on the night before last?"

* * *

It was nearing midnight when I finally set down the last of the reports and leaned my head back. I was sitting comfortably on Bobby's sofa. The coffee table was undetectable beneath the mounds of paperwork, but I was happy that I had convinced Bobby to leave 1PP a couple of hours ago. At least now I could read reports while in my sweatpants and bare feet.

"Find anything interesting?" I asked Bobby. He was stretched out on the couch with his feet in my lap, but he had a report in his hand. We really needed to find something to point us toward another suspect because right now our only two viable suspects were the medical examiner and the police captain. Neither had an alibi, both had a motive. And of course, we knew they were both innocent.

"Marcus' cell phone received a call at ten-thirty-five. That fits the story of the receptionist at Manhattan Health Club."

Earlier, after talking with the bartender at the place where Liz and Marcus had drinks, we had learned that Marcus was a regular at the health club. Since he was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants when he was found, it was a good theory that maybe he had gone to the club. He had. The receptionist said he kept a locker there, hence the change of clothes, and that he had arrived around ten-thirty, went in to change, and then came back out five minutes later with his cell phone to his ear.

"Let me guess," I said wryly. "No name cell."

"You are correct!" Bobby replied with fanfare, as though I'd won a game show. He sat up and tossed his report on the coffee table.

"So what do I win?" My seductive tone was not lost on him. He gave me that toe-melting look again and this time, since I didn't have to hold myself back, I didn't. I launched myself onto his lap and pushed my fingers into his hair, my lips hovering near his.

"You can have whatever you want," he replied just before he closed the distance. I held nothing back, kissing him with everything I had. He let out a moan and pulled my hips down closer onto him, creating more delicious pressure.

"I have what I want," I assured him as I moved my lips around to his ear. "Just you," I whispered.

"I had no idea you were going to be so insatiable," he mumbled, although he didn't sound the least bit like he was complaining.

"I've been storing up this sex drive for seven years, Bobby. Get used to it. We're not going to be sleeping much."

And then my cell phone rang.

"Un-freakin-believable," I muttered. With my face still pressed next to his, I took a deep breath, inhaling a good dose of Bobby's scent before I forced myself to pull away. My phone was buried under the mess on the coffee table, so it rang several more times before I could answer it.

"Eames." I let my irritation come through clearly.

"Alex, it's Liz." Her use of my first name threw me, and I was instantly on alert.

"Liz, what's wrong?" My question got Bobby's attention, too, because he quit playing with the hem of my t-shirt. He sat up and watched me intently.

"I'm at the hospital. It's Danny. He's been shot."

TBC...


	7. Chapter 7

**Bobby POV**

* * *

"Liz!" Alex called when she saw the doctor from across the waiting room. Rodgers looked up with tired, tear-filled eyes and came across to meet us.

"How is he?" I asked. Despite all of my recent misgivings about the man, I certainly didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

"He's still in surgery. I haven't heard anything yet," she said. And then she gathered her mental armor about her and added loudly, "You would think a damn doctor would get a little more common goddamn courtesy around here. Would it kill you to share information with one of your own?"

Alex and I looked at each other, unused to seeing the unflappable Rodgers in such a state.

"Let's go get some coffee," Alex suggested calmly as she put her arm around Rodgers. "We'll let Bobby beleaguer and intimidate the nurses into giving him an update."

Alex led Liz off toward the cafeteria, leaving me with a pointed look over her shoulder. It said, _find out something about Ross and I'll find out what the hell happened_. Yeah, one look said all of that. That's how it is with me and Alex.

I made my way over to the nurses' station and when the one closest to me looked up at me with admiring eyes, I decided to go with flirtation instead of intimidation. I put on my best 'little boy lost' look and leaned across the counter.

"Um…excuse me," I said quietly.

"Can I help you sir?" the admiring girl asked. She couldn't have been more than twenty-five, but I was going to use what I had.

"A friend of mine is in surgery and his wife hasn't been given any kind of updates as to his status. I was hoping you could help me ease her worry a little bit."

"I'm sorry, but we can't give out that kind of information." She looked truly sorry. She only needed a little push. I pulled out my badge and put on a smile.

"It's Daniel Ross. We just want an idea as to when he'll be out of surgery. Please?" I held her gaze for a solid minute before she caved.

"Give me a second and I'll see what I can find out." I waited for nearly five minutes before she returned.

"Mr. Ross is almost out of surgery. He should be moved to recovery within the half hour, and the surgeon will be down to talk to his wife then. Okay?"

"Thank you, sweetheart," I told her sincerely. Then I hurried towards the cafeteria, but I met up with Alex and Liz in the hall. Alex handed me a cup of coffee and looked at me with worried eyes. I told her what I had learned as we walked back to the waiting room. We settled Rodgers onto a soft chair in a darkened corner and then Alex pulled me aside.

"They were walking into Rodgers' house when it happened. Someone called to them from the sidewalk," Alex told me in a hushed voice. "When they turned, the person was pointing a gun at Ross and just shot him."

"Did the shooter say anything? Did Liz recognize him?" Alex shook her head.

"She doesn't even know if it was a_ him_. She said the shooter's appearance was completely androgynous. Black hoodie, black pants, average height. The only word said was 'hey' and it was loud and somewhat deep, but that it could've been male or a female trying to sound male."

"What the hell is going on here, Eames?" I asked in frustration. We had already assumed that someone was trying to pin Marcus' murder on Rodgers, but now they were trying to take out Ross, too?

"I was kind of hoping you were going to tell me," Alex replied with a grim smile. "I think Liz is in some serious danger."

"Why isn't this place filled with cops?" I asked suddenly. I was disappointed in myself for only just now noticing the lack of presence of boys in blue.

"She didn't call the cops, just us."

"Why not?"

"She said she doesn't know who to trust."

"She trusts us?" I asked with surprise.

"Yes, I do," Rodgers said. "You know I can hear you, right? I'm two chairs away and I'm not deaf."

"Sorry," I said, instantly contrite. "But why don't you trust any other cops? Do you think this is someone on the inside?"

"I don't know," she told me. "But I do know for a fact that I haven't had sex with Marcus in over two years. If that lab report fingered me as the guilty party, then somebody is trying to screw me over." Then she added wryly, "No pun intended."

"Did you bring Ross here yourself?" Alex asked.

"Yes. If I'd called for an ambulance, then it would be on the police radio. I don't want whoever did this to know that Danny's alive." Liz paused as her voice cracked and she took a moment to compose herself. "I want you two to find out who's behind this."

"You know we will," I said with feigned confidence. I had an idea that the killer's name was somewhere amongst the thousands of court documents that we had yet to receive.

"Mrs. Ross?" We all looked up to see a tired looking doctor in green scrubs. We stood up.

"It's Dr. Rodgers," she corrected as she shook the surgeon's hand. "But yes, I'm Danny Ross' wife. How is he?"

"He's going to pull through. He took one through the right upper thoracic region, but it was a through and through. We've repaired the damage, and he is in recovery. We'll move him to the ICU for twenty-four hours, and then if all goes well, he'll be moved to a regular room for a few days before going home. You can see him once we get him into the ICU."

"Thank you," Rodgers said, breathing a sigh of relief. She held it together well, shaking the doctor's hand again before going back to her chair.

"Doctor," I said before he could leave. I flashed him my badge. "Mr. Ross is a captain with the NYPD. We believe this shooting was a direct attempt on his life, and if it is learned that he survived, the killer will likely come back for him."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Just that his identification gets misplaced. The man you just operated on should officially be listed as a John Doe."

"Are you sure that's necessary?"

"No. But I'm not sure it's not. I'm not willing to take that chance, are you?"

* * *

We stayed with Rodgers while she waited for word that Ross was in the ICU. After twenty minutes, a nurse came to get her and took her in to see him. They only let her stay a few minutes, though, stating that he would likely be out for the next several hours. The nurses encouraged her to go home and rest.

"I can't just go home," I heard her tell Alex.

"No, you can't," I said. "Whoever did this is still after you. Just because they shot Ross doesn't mean that they weren't aiming for you. Or that they won't come after you once they realize we're not charging you with Marcus' murder."

"You really think someone's going to try to kill me?" To her credit, Rodgers stayed calm.

"We need to find you a safe place to stay," Alex said. Rodgers rolled her eyes.

"Everyone knows I just work with dead bodies, right? Why am I a target?"

"Don't minimize what you do for the justice system," Alex chastised. "You know damn well that your work has put more than a few criminals in prison."

"I know. This is just all new to me," she admitted. She looked like she was ready to fall sleep on her feet. I had to think of something. And I did.

"Give me a minute. I've got an idea." I stepped out into the hallway and pulled out my cell phone. It was nearly two a.m. but I had no qualms making the call. A few minutes later, the plans were in place. Alex and I waited while Liz went in to check on Ross one more time.

"Are you going to fill me in?" Alex asked me once Rodgers was gone. I hoped Alex liked my plan. I knew Liz wouldn't but I also knew she would be safe.

"We're going to take her to Logan's."

"Mike Logan?" Alex asked, her voice loud in the quiet hallway. I shushed her quickly and then pulled her further away from the ICU.

"Do you know any other Logan's?" I asked needlessly. "Of course Mike Logan."

Alex looked at me for a moment and then accepted it. I didn't have to say anything out loud. She knew as well as I did that Mike would keep a good eye on Rodgers. And this way, we would still have the freedom to work our case without having to keep up with her. And Logan wasn't with the department anymore, so if Liz wanted to keep this case on the down low, then this was the best way to do it.

"Are we getting in over our heads here?" Alex asked me. "Our captain was shot, and we're going to keep it quiet?"

"I have no idea," I admitted. "I say we go with this plan for twenty-four hours. If Ross hasn't woken up by then, we'll find someone higher up that we trust. If he has, we can clear it with him. I'd say getting shot kind of takes him off the official suspect list, don't you think?"

"Okay, twenty-four hours," Alex agreed. I smiled a tired smile at her, and she gave me one right back. I glanced over my shoulder, but saw that Rodgers was still in with Ross. I traced my finger along Alex's arm and up to her neck. She sighed softly and just that simple sound made me want to pull her into my arms. I couldn't risk it here, though.

"Do you think there's any chance of us getting back to my sofa any time soon?" I asked her.

"Is that all you think about?" she teased. The light was back in her eyes and I loved that I was the one that put it there.

"No. You're all I think about."

"Liar."

"Okay, you and whatever case we're working on. That's all I think about," I amended. She laughed, which was exactly what I was going for. We looked into each other's eyes and I felt like I was in some cheesy movie. Time slowed around me, and it was just me and Alex, and I was so happy.

And then I knew what the next words out of my mouth were going to be. I almost said them. _I love you_. Because I did. I really did. But I hesitated, and then I heard the door open, and there was Rodgers, walking down the hall towards us. She was looking down, surely with her mind on Ross, and I quickly stepped back away from Alex.

I dropped my eyes to the floor and felt the color rush my cheeks. _I almost said it_. Here, in the hospital, where our boss just came out of surgery and it's two o'clock in the morning…and then I looked back up at Alex. I smiled at her again and the panic left me because I saw it in her eyes. She _knew_ what I almost said. And she was almost going to say it, too.

"Okay, let's go wherever we're going," Rodgers said unenthusiastically. "I gave the nurse my cell number, so she's going to call me when he wakes up, but everything looks good."

"Good," I said, forcing myself to drag my eyes away from Alex. Rodgers stopped walking and looked back and forth between us. I had to get back into Goren mode before Rodgers sniffed us out. _Work now, relationship later_. That seemed to be my mantra of late.

"Did I miss something?"

"Nope," Alex said hurriedly. And just like that, she was back to Eames, too. "Everything's fine. Let's go."

"Am I allowed to know where we're going?" Rodgers asked.

"We're taking you to stay with a friend of ours," I told her, procrastinating against saying the name.

"Do I know this friend? And does he know that I'm going to be coming back to the hospital? And to work?"

"Work is not a good idea for a couple of days. With the whole investigation, it's probably a good idea for you to take some time. I'm surprised your boss hasn't already suggested it."

"He did," she admitted. "But he didn't insist on it, so I ignored him."

"Liz…" Alex began.

"Okay, I know. No work. For right now. But I am coming back to visit Danny as soon as he wakes up."

"That's fine. He'll bring you."

"And who is he?"

"Mike Logan."

Rodgers stopped walking and put her hands on her hips.

"Goren, you'd better be kidding me."

TBC...

A/N: No offense whatsoever to nurses everywhere - they are all heroes to me, and I know that none of them would break confidentiality. It just worked for my story.


	8. Chapter 8

**Alex POV**

* * *

We arrived at Logan's place at a little after three a.m., but he had all of the lights burning and he opened the door before we rang the bell. He looked the same, except much happier and more relaxed.

"Hey, Logan! It's good to see you." Bobby shook Logan's hand enthusiastically and it made me feel good to realize that they seemed to truly like each other. I knew they had gotten together for a beer a time or two since Logan had left the department, and I made a mental note to encourage him to arrange another get-together. It was good for Bobby to establish other friendships, and I had always liked Logan's loyalty.

"Goren, Eames – how've you guys been? It's been too long." Logan grabbed me up into a hug. It always amazed me how touchy-feely Logan was considering that he'd had a fairly crappy childhood. I didn't know all of the details, but I knew enough to know it was nearly as bad as Bobby's. Apparently, with Logan, it made him seek out relationships in any kind of form he could get whereas with Bobby, he mostly just avoided them altogether. Until now anyway.

Logan released me after a moment, and I stepped aside to allow room for Liz.

"Detective," Rodgers said in her fake-happy voice. "So good to see you again."

"You don't have to call me detective anymore. It's just Mike. And I hear you got yourself in a bit of trouble, Doctor," Logan replied sardonically.

"Please. If you're going to be my knight in shining armor, I guess we need to drop the formalities. It's Liz." We all followed Logan into his townhouse. He hadn't been living in this place when he'd worked for the NYPD, and it looked to be a pleasant upgrade. It was tastefully decorated, and clean, almost as though...

"Alex!" A voice called from the kitchen as we shucked our coats. I looked up quickly, because that was a voice I was not expecting, but it explained Mike's excellent living conditions.

"Carolyn?" Obviously, it had been too long since I'd talked to the former detective. She looked beautiful, and was obviously at home. I smiled at her while quirking an eyebrow. She just laughed.

"I know. Who'd have thought?" she quipped, jerking her head in Logan's direction.

"Hey! I'm standing right here you know," Logan objected. And then he leaned over towards me and mock-whispered, "Alex, you can close your mouth now."

"I'm sorry. I just…wow. I had no idea! Has it been that long?" I guess Logan _had_ learned how to establish a meaningful relationship. Well, wonders never cease!

"I hate to interrupt this happy reunion, but it's almost three in the morning, and it's been a hell of a night. Detective Barek…um…Carolyn, is there any way you could show me to a bed?" Rodgers asked.

"Sure, Dr. Rodgers," Carolyn said. She gestured toward the stairs, and Liz bid us a quiet goodnight before following her up. But then Liz stopped about halfway up and turned around to face us.

"You'll let me know when you have something," she stated.

"Absolutely. We'll check in with you even when we don't have something," Bobby assured her. "Get some rest, and call us later with an update on the captain."

"Will do. And Detectives…" she said. "Thank you."

Once she was gone, Logan pulled out four beers. He handed one each to me and Bobby, set one on the counter, and then opened the fourth for himself.

"So what the fuck is going on here?" he asked in a low voice, carefully enunciating each word.

"Let's wait for Carolyn so we don't have to say it twice," I said before taking a swig of my beer. It was an amber and the bold flavor was a shock to my taste buds, but in a good way. I decided I needed a little more, so I tossed the bottle back again.

"Good thing I've got a lot of beer," Mike commented. "This must be some serious shit. I'm glad you called me."

"I'm glad you agreed to help," Bobby said. "She's afraid to let anyone in the department in on this, and we can't watch her and conduct an investigation at the same time."

"So Ross is okay?"

"He's going to be. Took one to the chest, but he's hanging tough."

"So, you and Carolyn?" I asked, unable to hold back any longer. I was still in shock about that. "And you didn't tell me?" I added, chucking Bobby in the gut with my elbow.

"I didn't know! He told me he was with someone, but he didn't say it was _her_."

"I just can't believe it," I repeated.

"Yeah, Eames, you said that," Mike replied. "Hey, I don't know what she sees in me either, but I'm not complaining about it."

"Stop being so humble," Carolyn said as she entered the kitchen. She playfully messed up the top of Logan's hair before grabbing the beer that was left on the counter.

"You got Rodgers all settled?" I asked.

"She's a walking zombie. I gave her some clothes to change into and I think she was asleep before her head hit the pillow. So what's the situation?"

Bobby and I tag-teamed our interpretation of what was going on. There were a lot of questions and not a lot of answers, but when we finished, there were twelve empty bottles of beer on the counter and four pair of tired eyes.

"Rodgers was smart," Bobby said in conclusion. "She kept the department out of the loop by driving him to the hospital herself."

"And she searched the area for the shell casing before she left her house," I added.

"She's got Ross - shot and bleeding - in the backseat of her car, and she's crawling around on the sidewalk looking for brass?" Logan asked incredulously.

"She's a doctor. Ross was stable enough, and she was thinking like law enforcement instead of a significant other," I replied. We were going to keep the marriage thing quiet as long as we could, but Logan already knew that the two were in a relationship. "She's worked her job long enough to know that it would be important."

"Did she find anything?" Carolyn asked.

"No, and she knows the shooter didn't stick around long enough to pick it up."

"So it's either a revolver, or it took some kind of freaky JFK-like trajectory that made it hard to find," Logan deduced.

"We should take a second look, just to be sure," I said. "We'll stop by on the way to the office tomorrow and check it out."

Bobby nodded in agreement, and we were all quiet for a moment. Logan looked around at everyone carefully.

"Okay, if nobody else is going to say it, I will. How the _fuck_ does someone fake a _vaginal fluid_ sample?" he asked.

"There's got to be someone in on this from the lab. It has to be that the report itself is fake," I said. I couldn't imagine another way, but Carolyn looked thoughtful.

"Or…" she said.

"Or what?" Mike asked. "Someone snuck into the good doctor's place at night and did a swab on her without her knowing?"

"No, Mike! God…no. But there was this old case I had once where a condom was stolen. It was used to plant the man's semen, but it could work the other way."

It was clear no one wanted to think about that, but we were all professionals. And it was one possibility. If someone stole a condom that Ross and Rodgers had used when they had sex, then traces of her would still be on it, and could then be used to create a sample.

"Okay, who else here does _not_ want to think about Ross having sex?" Logan asked rhetorically. We all ignored him and looked to Bobby. He looked back at me and nodded his head.

"It's definitely a possibility. But that would mean that someone broke into either her house or Ross' house, stole the condom, and then got access into the lab to swap the samples."

"If there even was vaginal fluid on your vic," Mike suggested.

"_Or_ the killer had it _before_ he killed your vic and planted it on the body after he killed him," Carolyn countered.

"Well that would certainly be the best case scenario, wouldn't it?" Bobby asked.

Mike and Carolyn looked at him, waiting for the explanation, but I already knew it. If the evidence had been placed by the killer directly on the body, then that would mean that everyone at the morgue and in the lab had done their job.

"It clears the department," I stated. Bobby nodded at me.

"We need to get Jenkins to take another look at the body. If the evidence was stolen off a condom, then there should be some trace of spermicide or lubricant there as well."

"And we need to check with Liz to see which house would've been the one broken into. It must've been a neat job, but just because there wasn't any obvious evidence, doesn't mean there isn't any evidence at all. Clearly Ross and Rodgers didn't know to look for anything."

"You mean since they probably didn't realize the condom was missing?" Mike asked with a wry grin. "Boy, this sure makes a good argument for the pill."

"So what else? What's the next step?" Carolyn asked. She made her way over to where Logan stood, and even though he was looking at us, he raised his arm and wrapped it around her, pulling her up close. I was so jealous. They were so at ease with each other in the company of others. They didn't have to hide a thing.

I looked at Bobby and realized that he was looking at them, too. And he had a look of longing on his face that probably mirrored mine.

"What's next?" I replied finally. "Sleep. And hopefully, after we get a few hours in and swing by the scene, by the time we get to 1PP maybe the court documents will be there."

"Tomorrow's Sunday," Carolyn said. "Or today, rather," she amended, looking at the clock. "Get some sleep, stop by Rodgers place, go into the office, call Jenkins, and get the documents. Then bring all of that paperwork back here. Eight eyes are better than four."

"Are you sure?" I asked, although on the inside I was elated. We were on a tight timeline with this case, and I was going to take all the help we could get.

"Absolutely," Logan said with a grin. "We'll get some take-out, and I'll get more beer."

"Great. Thanks," Bobby said. He shook Logan's hand again, and then with a hand on my back, ushered me to the foyer. I slipped my arms into my coat that he held out for me, and then to my astonishment, he leaned in close and ran his hand along my neck to pull my hair out from under the collar. It was an intimate gesture and one that I knew would not go unnoticed by our former-detective friends. I turned around and looked up at him, but he just shrugged and grabbed my hand.

"I can't imagine they care," he said softly. "We don't have to hide from them."

"Hell yeah, I care!" Logan yelled, who had followed us to the front door. "I've got money on you guys!"

"Mike!" Carolyn censured. "Leave them alone."

"I will not. How long? Two years? Three?"

"Ignore him," Carolyn insisted as she leaned in to give me a hug. She pulled me aside from the guys and then whispered into my ear, "But nice going." I smiled back at her.

"You, too," I replied quietly. "I guess?" I added as a tease, looking from her to Mike.

"He's just a little rough around the edges," she told me. "But he's worth the effort. I'm sure you can understand that."

We finished up our goodbyes and made the drive back to Bobby's place. I was going to have to go home at some point to get some more clothes, but other than for apparel reasons, I had no real desire to go there. I was happy and comfortable at Bobby's place.

"So tell me again why you never told me about Mike and Carolyn?" I asked him once we were fully ensconced in his warm bed.

"I swear, I had no idea," he told me. "Mike kept talking about this great girl, and how she'd changed his whole perspective, but he never said her name."

"And you didn't pick up on the fact that it was someone you knew? That's not like you."

"Well, I was a little distracted," he admitted. His hands traced a gentle pattern across my stomach and his breath was right at my ear. This was absolutely the best place in the world to be.

"By what?" I murmured, his caresses lulling me to sleep.

"He was talking about the woman of his dreams. And I just kept thinking of you."

TBC...


	9. Chapter 9

**Bobby POV**

* * *

I could hear the clock ticking in my head. This case was either going to get solved, or blow up in our faces, and whichever way it went, it would be soon. We couldn't keep Ross' shooting a secret past the weekend, and we needed to have good proof to back up our reason for sitting on it as long as we did, or we were going to be up shit creek. In a situation like this, sleep would usually be out of the question, and especially at this time of day. I would never normally turn my brain off at four o'clock in the morning in order to get a few hours of sleep, because I mean really, at that point it's almost morning so why bother?

But with a warm, naked Alex in my bed it had been a no-brainer. And we slept soundly until the alarm went off at eight.

After we showered and dressed, and had a very intense quickie that made me appreciate the craftsmanship of my dining room table, we fortified ourselves with strong coffee and left my apartment. We had a busy day ahead of us, but we were going to start off by swinging by Alex's place to let her pack a bag.

When we pulled up in front of her place in Forest Hills, there was no parking spot to be found. She moved over in front of a hydrant.

"I'll run in and get my things. You can wait here in case we need to move it, okay? It won't take me but a minute," she assured me, dropping a kiss on my cheek. I smiled in return and watched her walk across the road and into her building.

While she was gone, I placed a quick call to Mike.

"What's going on?" he said by way of greeting.

"You tell me. News on Ross?" I asked.

"Yeah, the doctor called a half an hour ago to say he was awake and stable. They're going to move him to a regular room later today. I'm just waiting for Liz to shower up and then I'm going to take her over there."

"That's great news," I replied. I looked up at Alex's apartment, but I couldn't see anything. I looked at my watch. Three minutes. She was good, but not that good. It would surely take her a few more.

"Carolyn talked to her about the possibility of a stolen condom," Logan continued.

"Oh, nice. You bump off the hard topics on your girlfriend," I joked.

"Hey, it seemed like a girl thing, you know?" he replied. "Anyway, she said it would've been from her place. I guess they don't spend much time at Ross' bachelor pad."

Something in the window caught my attention, and I stopped listening to Logan. I stared hard at the apartment. Was it just Alex passing by or was it something else?

"Logan, I've got to go," I said, not waiting for a response before disconnecting.

My internal alarm was clanging like school bell, so I tossed my badge on the dash board and hopped out of the SUV. As I got to the other side of the street, I saw a figure in Alex's apartment window and it wasn't Alex. _Shit._

I drew my weapon as I took off running.

"Alex!" I called as I burst through the main door of the apartment building. A shot rang out in the stairwell above me.

"Alex!" I yelled again. I took the stairs two at a time. My heart was pounding, but from fear, not exertion.

"Bobby, go down! Around back!" Alex finally called to me. And then I started breathing again. It only took me a second to register what she'd said. I turned around and retraced my steps. I tried very hard to focus on not falling ass over tea kettle, but mostly my inner thoughts were saying, _thank God, thank God, thank God_.

I barreled through the front door and rounded the corner of her building. I could only guess that Alex had managed to chase him down the fire escape.

I ran through the alley and turned the corner to the backside of the building. Alex was in front of me, still running after a fleeing figure in black, but she was quite a bit behind and was losing ground. She wasn't going to catch him.

"Shit," I heard her say when she stopped. She shoved her gun back in its holster and bent over at the waist to catch her breath.

"Did you see his face?" I asked as I approached her, holstering my weapon as well. That was when she stood up and turned around. _Holy fuck_.

"Alex!" I cried, bringing my hands up to her bloody face. She had clearly taken several punches. One eye was starting to swell, and she had a split lip.

"I'm fine. I'm sure it looks worse than it feels," she replied, brushing me off. She was shaking with anger. "That's our guy, Bobby. _Shit_, that's our guy, and I let him get the drop on me." She put her hands on her hips and turned around in a circle, still breathing heavy.

"And what the hell was he doing in my apartment?" she continued. "I thought he was after Liz."

My mind was racing in too many directions. I took a deep breath and reminded myself of my new catch phrase: _work now, relationship later_. Physically, Alex would be fine. Sometimes a partner gets hurt on the job, but fortunately this time it was nothing life threatening. Okay, safety - check. Move on to the next thing. There had been a guy in Alex's apartment. That sparked a question.

"So it was a guy?" I clarified. Alex looked at me then, seemingly grateful that I was able to focus on the work.

"Yeah. And I only saw his face briefly, but I swear I've seen him before."

"Description?"

"Young. Twenty or twenty-five maybe at the most. Blue eyes."

"And he looked familiar? Like someone you know outside of work or someone we've arrested before?"

"I don't know," she said, blowing out a frustrated breath. "It's more a feeling that I know him than anything concrete."

"Okay. Okay, that's fine. So what was he doing when you went in?"

"The door was unlocked. So I drew my weapon, and pushed it open."

"Wait, so you knew someone was in there and you didn't call me?" I asked, interrupting her.

"No," she replied crossly. Then she calmed a little before she continued. "No, I didn't think anyone was still in there. And I couldn't even swear that I locked the door the last time I left here. I haven't been home since the night we finished the Conlon case." She gave me a little smile and I relaxed slightly. _The first night we made love_.

"Okay, so you pushed the door open…" I encouraged.

"Right, and I looked around but I didn't see anyone. I was coming out of the bedroom when he came out of the bathroom. I guess he hid in there when he heard me come in. He kicked my gun out of my hand."

"And then he just hit you?"

"No, I hit him," she told me. Of course she did. _My tough little Eames_. "I got two good ones in on him before he punched me back. He got me twice and then took off for the front door. I grabbed my gun and fired at him as he was leaving, and then he must have heard you yelling because he came back into the apartment and went out the window to the fire escape. And I guess you know the rest."

"Can I not be Goren for about a minute here, Eames?" I asked her. She stared at me hard and I could tell she was struggling to rein in her own emotions. Finally, she glanced at her watch.

"You've got one minute," she conceded. I pulled her into my arms and held her tight, probably a little too tight, but she let me. And then I stepped back a little and pulled my handkerchief out of my pocket and used it to clean some of the blood from her face.

"Okay, we need to be done," she reminded me gently. She lightly put her hand on top of mine and I relented. I gave her the cloth so that she could hold it to her lip. "I promise to let you baby me later tonight, okay?"

"Count on it," I told her.

I followed Alex back to her apartment and while she tried to determine if anything was missing, I took a good look at the lock on her door. I know she was probably distracted when she left here that night, but I also knew it wasn't like Alex to not lock up. She would've done it on autopilot.

Scratch marks on the lock told me what I needed to know. I stood up and turned around as Alex came back into the room.

"Everything looks fine," she told me.

"Sure?"

"As sure as I can be." I nodded and turned to point at the lock.

"Lock's been picked. Not by a professional, either. He left too many scratch marks."

"Well, he was smart enough to wear gloves, so no prints."

"Why the hell was he here? Do you think that he thought Rodgers would be here?" I wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but we should call Logan and give him a head's up."

* * *

Four hours later, we pulled out of the garage at 1PP. With the exception of Alex going two rounds with Mystery Man, the day had gone fairly well. Jenkins promised to go over Marcus Rodgers' body a second time, we had six large boxes of court documents in the back of the SUV, and while we couldn't locate the casing, we did manage to pull a slug out of the exterior wall of Rodgers' townhouse. It was a .38 and I hand-delivered the bullet to a buddy in ballistics so that we could see if it matched up to any previous crimes.

I was driving, which was a sure sign that Alex was hurting, so I carefully maneuvered through the midday traffic while she checked in with Rodgers. I didn't even try to listen to her half of the conversation. Instead, I just waited for her to finish and fill me in.

"Ross is going to buy us another day," she said when she hung up the phone.

"What do you mean?"

"Logan filled him in on our working theory. Ross is on board. He's going to call in sick tomorrow so that we can have more time to go through the court documents."

"Really…wow. I kind of thought he was going to go off on us when he found out what was going on."

"Yeah, me too," she said with a grin. But then she winced when the cut on her lip cracked open again. I looked at her as long as I dared, considering I was at the wheel.

"I'm fine, Bobby. Really. It's not my first split lip," she assured me as she swiped away the fresh blood. "You did good today."

"Me?" I asked in surprise. "What do you mean?" I looked down when I felt her hand come to rest on my thigh.

"I'm sure it wasn't easy for you. Listening to the shot, not knowing if I was okay…it was bad enough when we were just partners and friends, and now that we're…"

I held my breath and waited to see just how she was going to classify us. She lightly stroked my thigh as she searched for the word.

"So much more," she finally settled on. "I'm sure it was tough for you to still treat me as a cop and not as your lover."

"You have no idea," I admitted. "And if you recall, I did request a minute to step out of cop mode," I reminded her.

"I know, but that was after the danger had passed. And it was quick, and then you let me get back to it. I appreciate that, I really do." I took one hand off the wheel and covered hers, leaving our hands joined together on my leg. Alex sighed and leaned her head on my shoulder. It wasn't long before I heard her breathing even out and she was fast asleep.

Forty-five minutes later, I parked in front of Logan's place.

"Alex, wake up, honey," I said gently, brushing my hand over her cheek. She sat up quickly and looked around.

"We're here already?"

"Forty-five minute drive," I relied. "You snored the whole way."

"I'm sure I didn't," she insisted. She got out of the truck and stretched. "Okay, maybe I did. But I think I might get my second wind now. Let's go see if Logan's got some coffee going. I'm anxious to get a look at these files."

Carolyn was still with Liz at the hospital, so Logan, Alex and I got situated in the living room and got to work.

"Six boxes," Logan moaned. "Jeez, this is going to take us all night."

"You offered," I reminded him, handing him a stack. The three of us went through box after box, reading Rodgers' various court testimonies. We sorted the documents into piles, somewhat ranking them in order of how damning her testimony was to each case.

I had no idea how much time had passed when we heard the front door open. But I did realize, as soon as Liz and Carolyn walked into the living room, that Alex and I were sitting cozily on the loveseat together and she had her feet resting in my lap. Alex was absorbed in a report and apparently hadn't heard them come in. I tapped her foot to catch her attention, and we both made an effort to casually put some distance between us, but then I heard Rodgers bark out a laugh.

"Please, Detectives," she said with a wave of her hand. "Don't move on my account. I've known about you two for years."

"What?" I sputtered. I couldn't believe she had just said that. And she was smiling.

"I've never seen it get in the way of your professionalism, so I see no need to make a big deal out of it," she replied before making her way into the kitchen. Alex and I looked at each other.

"Why is it that everyone thinks we've been together for years?" I asked her quietly.

"I thought you were supposed to be some kind of genius," Logan said without looking up from the paper he was reading. "Hey, I remember this one," he said suddenly, completely losing track of whatever insight he was going to share.

"What?" Carolyn asked as she joined Mike on the sofa.

"This one was a doozie," he said. He was still reading through the document, and then he stopped and picked up another stack of reports from the table. The stack of recently paroled felons. I could almost hear the wheels turning in Mike's head. He ran his finger down the list of names, and then suddenly stopped.

"Holy shit. No way."

"What is it, Logan?" I asked.

"Look who just got parole," he said with a grin. He held the paper out for all of us to see. I read the name, and I was filled with dread. Alex sucked in a breath and Carolyn muttered something in a language I couldn't place. I had an idea of the meaning though because it was likely along the same line as what I was thinking. _Mother fucker_. This was going to be even worse than I thought.

TBC...


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Spoiler alert – if you think there's an epi from season 5 that you haven't seen and it might keep you from reading, then scroll down to the bottom to read the other A/N. Otherwise, I'd rather not mention the episode here, so that you learn the suspect as part of the story.

* * *

**Alex POV**

* * *

"Hey, guys. Let's not jump to conclusions here," Logan said at everyone's sustained silence. "It might not be him."

"It's not him," I said. I could feel the bile rising in my throat. _It can't be him_.

My heart was thudding a dance-club beat as the memory of that case flooded my brain. Harold Garrett. _Fucking Judge Harold Garrett_. He had tried to ruin every detective involved in the case. Logan, Barek, Bobby…and he had tried to use me to help take Bobby down. And now he was back? Was it possible that he was the one behind all of this? And if he was, why did he start with Rodgers, when it was clearly Bobby that he hated so much?

"It doesn't make sense," Carolyn said, her words echoing my thoughts. "Why would he go after Rodgers?"

"He wouldn't," I stated. But I wasn't motivated by logic; I was motivated by fear. I didn't want to revisit this case, mentally or any other way.

"He's a viable suspect," Bobby said quietly.

"I'd say he's more than viable. Listen to this testimony." Mike started to read aloud, but then stopped when Rodgers entered the room. She sat down in a chair and took a sip of her coffee before speaking.

"My testimony made the difference in him getting charged with aggravated sexual assault as opposed to unlawful sex with a minor," she said flatly. "Carver was pretty pleased with how well I did on the stand, so it's possible that Garrett would hold a grudge against me."

"That's what it looks like here," Logan agreed. "After that whole fiasco with the son's testimony, and having to charge the wife with murder instead, the jury might have let him go with the lesser charge, but Rodgers really brought it home."

"Thank you, Detective," she replied, apparently unable to call him anything else. "So you think it's him?"

"He's a strong suspect, although if it's him, he has help. There's no way he was the one who broke into Alex's house today," Bobby said. As for me, I was numb. Just at the sight of that bastard's name, I had been thrown back to one of the worst days of my life.

I looked up and realized that Rodgers was staring at me.

"You look like hell, Detective. You really should put some ice on that eye," she told me. Grateful for any excuse to leave the room, I got up.

"Good idea. I'll be back in a minute." I went into the kitchen and took a deep, calming breath. _It's in the past_, I reminded myself. Bobby and I had long since cleared the air about that damn letter. But I still knew that it had hurt him. _I_ had hurt him.

"Alex," Bobby said softly, having followed me into the kitchen. "I know what you're thinking."

"You usually do," I agreed with a sigh. I didn't turn around to face him, though. I stood with my hands on the counter and kept my back to the room.

"Don't put yourself through this again," he continued. He stepped closer to me and I could feel him behind me, even though physically we still didn't touch.

"But Bobby," I began, but then my voice cracked. Dammit, I was not going to cry. Especially not in Logan's house with everyone right in the next room.

"It's in the past," he said, and I almost laughed at his exact repetition of words from my own head.

"Apparently not," I countered. "Apparently Judge Garrett has decided to try to inflict a little more damage on us."

"We don't know that it's him. He's just one of many on the suspect list."

"It's him." Considering that a minute ago, I had been saying just the opposite, my comment silenced Bobby for a moment. I could almost hear him thinking.

"How do you know?" he asked finally, although I could tell from the sound of his voice that he didn't disagree.

"Because I told you I thought I recognized the guy from my apartment. I think it was Ethan Garrett."

"The judge's son?"

"I think so."

"Okay. Okay, well, that makes sense. So that puts them at the top of our suspect list."

Bobby slowly pulled me to him until I was flush against him. He whispered into my ear.

"You've got to forget about that letter. About that day in court. All of it. It can't touch us now." How could he be so forgiving? I turned easily in his arms so that my cheek pressed against his chest. The pain from the punch I'd taken earlier was a welcome form of self-flagellation.

"But the things that I said…" I began. _Serious doubts about his judgment and mental stability_…What the fuck had I been thinking? How could I have ever written those words?

"You didn't know me when you wrote that letter," Bobby said, reading my thoughts once again.

"But even when Carver gave me a chance to explain, all I could say was that you're an 'ethical person and an effective police officer'. I took the coward's way out of that, Bobby. I could have said what I really think."

"And what is that?"

"That you're a damn genius, and bar none, the best detective I have ever known."

"That would've seemed biased," he told me. "Your words rang true to the jury. If you had said anything more, they would have seen it as overkill. Besides, I took what you said as a compliment."

"You did?" I asked in surprise. I pulled back so that I could look him in the eye.

"I did. Alex, _you're_ an ethical person and an effective police officer. If you think I'm those things, too, then that puts me on the same level with you. And to me, that's the best compliment there is." The knot in my stomach started to release a little.

"I don't deserve you, Bobby Goren." I pulled him down for a gentle kiss, mindful of my cut lip. "But I am so glad you're mine."

"Yours, huh?" he asked, a teasing smile playing on his lips. He started to lean in for another kiss, but then we heard Logan clearing his throat.

"Um, we sort of have a case we're trying to solve here, so…"

"We're coming," I said, stepping away from Bobby. I reached into the freezer and grabbed a bag of frozen peas to put on my face.

"Jeez," Logan muttered as we followed him back to the living room. "You two can hide a relationship for years, but then you can't even control yourselves when you're alone together for five minutes."

Once we were back in the living room, we got down to business. I told everyone how I suspected that Ethan had been the man in black in my apartment.

"That little pipsqueak?" Logan asked. "I don't know. Are you sure?"

"No, but we need to check it out. He would be twenty by now; I'm sure he's grown. We need to find out what happened to him after both of his parents went to prison."

"That shouldn't be too hard. He got a light sentence for criminally negligent homicide. We can pull his record and check with his parole officer," Bobby offered.

"But he hated his old man," Mike argued. "Why would he work with him on this?"

"He hated him and he worshipped him," Bobby said quietly. "But he probably hates us even more because we took away his dad's power."

"So you think that coming after me is just _part_ of his plan?" Rodgers asked. It was a good question. And one that I was pretty sure we all knew the answer to.

"Yes," Bobby said. "I think he started with you, but that we're all on his hit list. Just like last time."

"So why kill Marcus and try to frame me? Why not just try to kill me?" she asked. I heard her question, but something outside the front window caught my eye. I kept watching.

"Can you imagine a judge in prison? He would've been the belle of the ball," Logan said. "I'm sure he wants us to suffer a little more than just death."

And then I saw it again - a flash through the window. Adrenaline had me up and to the door with my weapon drawn, all without speaking a word.

"What is it?" Bobby asked sharply. He didn't know what I had seen, but my actions had him right on my heels with his weapon drawn as well. _Effective police officer, my ass. He's the best damn partner **ever**._

"A flash outside the window," I told him as I killed the outside light and then opened the front door.

"Camera?" Logan asked. He had pulled a gun from somewhere and came out onto the porch with us.

"Yeah." My eyes intently searched the darkness, hoping for a hint of movement that would clue me in as to the voyeur's location. And then I saw it. Nearly a block away. I pointed and then quickly made my way down the steps.

"Stay in here to keep an eye on Rodgers," Bobby told Carolyn before following me to the sidewalk. Logan was behind Bobby, and the three of us eased silently out onto the street. The observer had yet to see us. He simply continued walking away from us down the street.

We spread out, with Logan on one side of the street and me on the other. Bobby walked in the street, keeping close to the parked cars. And then the man looked back, just as I passed under a streetlight.

"He's running!" I called out needlessly. All three of us took off at a sprint. A car started up about two blocks away, and I knew we were in trouble. We would never make it to him before he made it to that car.

"Stop! NYPD!" Bobby called. I'm sure he knew it wouldn't do any good, but it was worth a shot. The man never faltered. The car pulled away from the curb and started moving at a slow roll. The passenger door swung open, but the damn dome light was out, so it didn't help me to see the driver. The man we were chasing hopped in the car just before it peeled away.

"Shit!" Logan yelled. He was the closest to the car, and yet was still half a block away.

"Was it him?" Bobby asked as he came up beside Logan. Both men were breathing heavily.

"I don't know. Maybe. What the fuck was he doing out there?"

"Reconnaissance would be my guess," I said dryly. "He's planning out his next move."

* * *

It was late when we got back to Bobby's. The mood at Logan's had been somber, but now that we had an idea of who we might be chasing, it gave us more to work on. There were still other possible suspects to eliminate, but Carolyn was going to handle that while the rest of us focused on the Garretts.

Earlier, Logan had told us that Rodgers had really gone to bat for us with Ross. She was the one who had convinced him to buy us another day. It made me feel good to know that she was working hard to establish trust with us. And she clearly had plenty of faith in us, since she was basically putting her life into our hands. We were about to the point where we could bring the brass up to speed, but in order to cover our own asses, we wanted a little more proof first. And we wanted to be sure that the Judge had not bought the loyalty of someone in the department. After all, Ethan had managed to get my address somehow. It wasn't common knowledge, and it certainly wasn't listed. Logan's address was unlisted, too.

First order of business for the next day would be to get in touch with the respective parole officers of each Garrett. If they _were_ guilty, then it would be unlikely that they were keeping up with the required appointments, but it was a place to start. We would also be able to get Jenkins follow-up report. Hopefully there would be traces of lubricant on Marcus Rodgers.

"This has been a hell of a day," I said as I tossed my badge and weapon onto the table. "I can't believe he had the nerve to take pictures through Logan's front window."

"He probably followed us there, Eames," Bobby said. His use of my last name told me he was clearly still in work mode, and likely rattled by this latest development.

"They may have been following us for a while," he continued. "Maybe that's how they knew where you lived."

"That's starting to sound a little paranoid, don't you think?" I asked, although I didn't think so. I thought he was exactly right. And I didn't like it one bit.

"All I know is that I'm glad you're staying here with me," he told me. A flash of anger went through me at his phrasing, even though I thought I knew what he meant.

"Yeah, because we both know I couldn't possibly take care of myself," I said derisively. I kept his gaze for a moment, challenging him, almost wanting him to start a fight. His eyes spoke volumes that only made me feel guilty for my childish outburst. But I still wanted his verbal reassurance. At his continued silence, I turned and went to hang my coat on the rack by the door. Bobby followed.

"You know I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I meant in _addition_ to all of the other reasons. And I know damn well that you can take care of yourself," he insisted.

"But we work so much better together," Bobby added in a hushed tone. His lips were next to my ear and I suppressed a shiver. Bobby kept my back to him and pressed me up against the front door.

"So you want me here strictly for occupational purposes?" I asked coyly. I was done being mad. I'd known what he meant almost from the get-go, but sometimes a woman needs to hear the words.

"And maybe a few recreational purposes as well," he said quietly as his lips tracked around the back of my neck.

"Yeah?" I asked, although most rational thought was leaving my brain. My earlier urge to start a fight, which had likely only come about due to my extreme exhaustion anyway, was now completely gone. I was a victim of my own hormones, and Bobby seemed to know exactly how to allay my temper and ease my fears.

"Yeah." His fingers worked the buttons on my blouse and then quickly moved on to my jeans. I still hadn't turned around, but that was okay. I was going all on the sensation of touch. Hard wood against my front, firm Bobby against my back.

"And maybe there's another reason why I like having you here," he whispered, his fingers never ceasing their exploration.

"What's that?" I asked breathlessly. The silence stretched, and there was just nothing but me and Bobby. And really, that was all I needed. But then he took in a deep breath and I felt the words as much as I heard them, just the sweet brush of his lips on the shell of my ear along with his husky tone.

"Because I love you."

TBC…

* * *

A/N: If you read first, then it's obvious the spoilers are from In the Wee Small Hours (a little bit of text is quoted directly from the show). If you scrolled down here first, and HAVEN'T seen this 2-part episode – what are you waiting for? It's awesome – go watch it!


	11. Chapter 11

**Bobby POV**

* * *

Appreciation of my new-found happiness was short lived. Oh, I was ecstatic with my personal life. I mean, Alex had told me that she loves me. I don't think I could be any happier than I was at the moment those words left her lips.

And afterward, we had enthusiastically celebrated the milestone up against my front door. I say enthusiastically because Alex got a little more vocal than usual, and one of my neighbors came over and knocked on the door, just to make sure we were okay. That was the first time I ever heard Alex giggle, and it will be a sound forever in my head.

But this morning, I woke to chaos. There was a banging on my door that brought me out of a sound sleep. I hopped out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans.

"Who is it?" Alex asked sleepily.

"I have no idea."

A check of the clock told me it was a little before five. I grabbed my weapon and headed for the door. I heard Alex moving around in the bedroom, throwing on clothes, but I didn't wait for her.

"Goren, open up!" Logan yelled. I relaxed slightly and put the safety back on my gun.

"What the hell, Logan?" I asked when I opened the door. He came in, but didn't say anything. Instead, he shoved a newspaper in my face.

"Logan?" Alex asked as she came down the hall. She had dressed hastily in jeans and a t-shirt, and if Logan was surprised to see her in such a state at my place, he didn't comment. And that had me worried because normally the situation would've begged for a classic Logan one-liner.

I took the paper from Logan, and read the headline: _NYPD Detectives Attempt Cover-Up_

The secondary line directly below stated: _Medical Examiner Involved_

"What the hell is this?" Alex asked loudly, having come to read the article along with me. There was a photo of her and me, a stock photo from an old crime scene, but the implication was clear that we were the ones supposedly working on the cover-up.

"I'd say Hot Tub Harry just launched phase two of his attack," Logan said. And I thought I'd hated Judge Garrett three years ago. Those feelings were nothing compared to the emotions that simmered through me now.

"Holy shit, we're in it deep now," I muttered. "Where are Carolyn and Liz?"

"They're headed for the hospital. Rodgers wanted to show Ross the paper."

"I should've been ready for this," I said. "I know how his mind works." I handed the paper to Alex so that I could pace. "God _damn_ it, I should have known."

"Bobby, you couldn't have known. We didn't even consider him a suspect until last night. Even if you had anticipated something like this, it would've been too late to do anything about it."

"If we had gone to the chief last night, we would've been credible. Now, after this article is out, we look like we're only telling him because we have to. We look like we have something to hide." I kept walking through the small apartment, afraid that if I stopped I was going to hit something.

"Well, we are trying to hide something," Alex said reasonably. "But we're doing it for the right reasons."

"This kind of thing always gets me into trouble," I said, more to myself than anyone else. "How do I always end up here?"

Alex stepped in front of me to stop my pacing and get my attention.

"Because you're a good man who does the honorable thing, even when it's hard." She put her hand on my forearm and her touch settled me a bit.

"Goren, relax man," Logan added. "It's not that bad. Ross knew the truth before this. He'll back you up."

"Ross. Is going to back me up. Right."

"Rodgers is on our side. She'll get him there, too," Logan assured me. And he could be right. She had already gotten him to take a sick day today rather than admit to having been shot, so she definitely had some influence over him.

"Okay. Okay. Garrett's trying to throw us off. He's trying to make us play catch up, do damage control. While we're doing that, he comes after another one of us," I said finally.

"So what do we do instead?" Alex asked. I looked around and realized that both she and Logan were staring at me intently. Both were ready to do battle by my side. I felt a surge of confidence. Judge Garrett was going to have one hell of a fight on his hands this time. I wasn't the same man as before. My weakness before had been my mother's vulnerability and my own self-doubt. But now my mother was gone, God rest her soul, and my confidence was back in spades.

"How's Ross healing?" I asked Logan. He paused at my non sequitur, but then, knowing how my mind works, he filled me in without question.

"Rodgers said he's a miracle to modern medicine. They're talking about letting him out today."

"Okay. Okay, then, we let Ross handle the media backlash. We let him handle the brass. But from the hospital. He needs to stay there today. We're going to sniff out Ethan Garrett. He'll lead us to the old man."

Logan waited while Alex and I showered and dressed. Independently of course. Logan remained impassive, although he did waggle his eyebrows at me a few times when Alex headed off for the shower. I ignored him.

Alex volunteered to make the phone call to Ross, since he liked her best, so she took care of that while I accessed the database so that I could find out who was Ethan Garrett's parole officer. I pulled up the information on Harold Garrett's p.o. as well, but I had no doubt that this would be a dead end.

I was grateful that Alex made the call to Ross instead of me. I saw her have to pull the phone away from her ear a couple of times, but ultimately, he fell in line squarely behind us. He was going to talk to the brass, and construct a follow-up press release. That said, he also suggested we stay the hell away from 1PP for the time being.

Logan spoke with Carolyn and asked her to track down the reporter who wrote the article to see if we could shake anything loose from that angle.

By the time we left my apartment, it was seven o'clock. I was very conscious of my surroundings, since now it seemed we had stalkers. I didn't see anyone, though, and we hustled to Logan's SUV.

We spent the morning doing typical detective work. Ethan Garrett had been out of jail for two years, and had been checking in regularly. However, since his dad's parole last month, Ethan's p.o. said he'd been AWOL. His last known address was a bust, as was tracking down Ethan's former high school buddies. None of them had seen Ethan since the trial in 2005.

Harold Garrett had not once checked in with his parole office. The address he'd given him wasn't even a legitimate address. I scribbled a note in my binder, reminding myself to report that to the p.o.'s boss. I'm not normally a whistle-blower, but something so basic as confirming if a paroled felon's address is legit, well…I just couldn't let that one go.

"Don't you miss this, Logan?" Alex asked after our fifth strikeout of the day.

"Miss what? Wasting half my day chasing bogus leads? Wearing my shoes out walking around this city?" he asked. He barked out a laugh. "Hell yeah, I miss it."

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be at work today?" I asked suddenly. It just hit me that Mike and Carolyn had completely put their lives on hold just to help us.

"I had some time coming to me," he replied casually as though it was no big deal. Mike worked for our old boss, Jimmy Deakins. Whenever the chief of D's got sick of me, that would probably be where I ended up, too.

"And Carolyn?" Alex asked.

"She only does consultation work now so she makes her own hours. It's kind of nice, actually. With a mind and reputation like yours, Goren, you might consider that one of these days." It was a hell of a compliment, and it struck me silent.

"We've got to get some lunch," Alex said, breaking the quiet. I checked my watch and was surprised to find that it was after two. Alex, who had managed to steal the keys from Logan first thing this morning, maneuvered the SUV into a parking spot near a little diner in Brooklyn.

"Okay," Alex began after we had placed our orders. "Looks like it's going to be Plan B."

"What's Plan B?" I asked. I was apprehensive. Alex looked too smug. She looked at Logan and he gave her an encouraging nod. _What the hell?_

"You two making plans without me?" I asked. I gave Logan my best glare.

"Hey, leave me out of it, pal. This was her idea. While you were intimidating the landlord at Ethan's old place, she was hatching this thing up."

"Thanks for the back-up, Logan," Alex said sarcastically. "I appreciate it."

"So what's this plan?" I asked again, knowing full well that I wasn't going to like it.

"I think I need to go back to my place," she said. "Alone."

"What? No, no way."

"Now just wait a minute, Bobby. Hear me out. I go alone, but you and Logan are behind me keeping an eye on things. If Ethan was at my place looking for Liz, then the plan may not work. But, you know as well as I do, that Ethan has quite the ego on him, and I'm guessing that he didn't like getting punched and shot at by a woman. I would bet that however the list was arranged before, I've moved up to being next."

My stomach clenched and my heart was in my throat. _No freakin way is Alex going to be bait_. And then I looked at her and it hit me. _**Eames**__ was going to be bait_. This was the ultimate test of whether or not I could handle being in love with my partner. Could I? _Get a grip, Goren._ Of course I could handle it. I've been doing it for years.

* * *

I listened while Alex and Logan laid out the plan, and then added a few ideas of my own. I agreed with Alex that she was likely next on the hit list. But we had to account for everything, so the plan was for Carolyn and Liz to stay at the hospital with Ross. We didn't think, or we hoped anyway, that the Garretts knew which hospital Ross was in. Evasive measures had been used each time Liz had visited, since we had thought she was the target all along. We figured that if they stayed there, and Logan's house and my apartment stayed empty, then eventually our suspects would come to Alex's.

To increase our chances of luring them in, we wanted to make ourselves easy to follow. Working on the theory that they would be expecting us to be at work, we made a quick stop by my apartment to pick up the other SUV and then we separated from Logan.

Alex drove us downtown and parked as close to 1PP as we dared. Then she and I got out of the car.

"Bobby, you're crazy!" she yelled at me. Thank God I already knew what she was going to say, because she was a great actress.

"So you're always saying!" I shouted back. We were standing at the hood of the SUV near the back entrance of 1PP, an entrance we hoped no one of any importance would use. But we used it, and if our stalkers had been following us for any length of time, then they would know we used it.

"If you want to follow up on another one of your unfounded theories, then fine, but leave me out of it. We worked all weekend. I'm done – I'm going home."

"Come on, Eames," I said. I was losing my momentum because I hated fighting with her, even if it was only pretend.

"No, Goren. This mess is your fault," she insisted. "You figure it out. I'll see you tomorrow." And without a backwards glance, she climbed into the SUV and drove off, leaving me on the sidewalk. I stood there and stared after her, but peripherally, I watched for any cars to follow. I didn't see any, but that didn't make me feel any better.

I turned to make like I was going into the building, but then I backtracked and hoofed it two blocks over where Logan was waiting in his truck.

"We've got to go. I don't want her going into her place without us there," I told him.

"That was a hell of a display you guys put on," Logan said wryly as he whipped out into traffic. "I could hear you from two blocks away."

"Take the Brooklyn Bridge over to the BQE," I told him needlessly as we moved through the throng of cars on the busy Manhattan streets. "This time of day the traffic will move better."

"I'm not new, Goren. Relax. You told her to go up the FDR, right? We should beat her to Forest Hills."

I pulled out my cell phone and called Alex.

"Eames," she answered. Her voice far away and I could tell she had done as we discussed. She had me on speaker and the phone was still lying on the seat next to her. I didn't want her holding the phone to her ear in case they were close enough to notice, and I wanted her to have both hands on the wheel.

"Do you see them behind you?" I asked.

"No, nothing yet."

"Keep an eye out. They were watching."

"You saw them?"

"No, but I could tell. Couldn't you?"

"Yes," she confessed. In the old days, she would have never admitted to something just on a feeling, but I guess after so many years with me, I was starting to rub off on her.

"It's fine. _I'm_ fine. Relax, Bobby," she added. And she was right. I really needed to relax. "Hey, Carolyn's calling. She might have something. I'll let you know when I get close to my place, okay?"

We disconnected, and I couldn't deny the sinking feeling that was creeping through me. I focused on my breathing, and leaned my head back on the seat. I replayed some of last night in my head: the sound of Alex giggling and the look in her eyes when she had turned to me to tell me that she loved me, too. I relaxed slightly.

"Holy shit," Logan said, causing me to sit straight up in the seat. I looked around us and realized we were in gridlock. The BQE was jammed, and we couldn't go forwards or backwards. And then my cell rang.

"Alex?"

"Bobby!" Alex yelled. "I just came out of the Midtown Tunnel and he rear-ended me. He's trying to run me off the road! Where are you?"

TBC...

A/N: Back entrance to 1PP? No idea. But it works for me.


	12. Chapter 12

**Alex POV**.

* * *

I wasn't panicking. My voice may have come out a little more alarmed than I intended, but that was only because of the adrenaline pumping through me. I was in control. I just wanted to know where Bobby was so that I could determine a course of action. And he was apparently gridlocked on the BQE.

However, I had no doubt that at this exact moment, he was probably running between cars with his badge held high, hoping to commandeer some vehicle that was in a moveable position. Despite my knowledge of this, it was unlikely that he was going to get here any time soon. I was on my own.

And that was fine with me. If Bobby had been nearby, I could've maneuvered his direction so that we could've pinned the suspect's car in, using typical police techniques. But he wasn't, and that little bastard behind me had just rammed me for a second time and caused me to drop my cell phone onto the floor. I was done playing games with him.

With my left hand on the wheel, I took the next off-ramp. I needed to get this guy isolated as much as possible so as to avoid civilian casualties. Borden Avenue would do the trick. With my right hand, I drew my weapon and checked the load. I had a full magazine and one in the chamber, so I was good to go. I made sure the safety was on – no need to have it accidentally discharge upon impact – and then I put it back into its holster.

A quick glance to the floor showed me that my cell phone was still open. I had no idea if I was still connected with Bobby, but just in case I was, I yelled out my location and the description of the car following me. Brown, American-made mid-size sedan. There was only a driver in the car, no passenger.

I looked ahead of me and saw that I was approaching a bridge. Once I crossed that, the road would start heading back into higher traffic areas, so I needed to make my move. I punched the gas to put a little distance between us and then turned the wheel as I slammed on the emergency brake.

The SUV spun on a dime, executing a perfect one-eighty. I ended up facing the sedan in a game of chicken. I won. He promptly veered off the road and into the ditch. I was slightly disoriented from the abrupt spin-and-stop move, but I hopped out of the truck anyway and ran towards the car.

"Get out of the car!" I yelled. "Get out of the car now!"

I slowed to a walk as I got within a few yards of the vehicle and kept my weapon pointed at the driver's side window. The front end of the car was smashed into the ditch and the rear end was slightly off the ground. The air bag had deployed, covering the suspect's face, but I could see him moving. And I didn't need to see his face because I already knew who it was.

"Ethan Garrett, get out of the car!" I shouted a third time. This time, he complied.

He had a broken nose from the airbag, and when I looked closer, I could see older bruising on his face as well.

_Good_, I thought. That was from me yesterday.

"Get down on the ground," I ordered.

"This isn't over," he told me, spitting blood out of his mouth and onto the ground near my feet.

"Oh, I think it is. Ethan Garrett, you are under arrest," I began. As I recited him his rights, I holstered my weapon and shoved him onto the ground before snapping the cuffs into place. When I was finished, I left him there, face down on the pavement. Sirens were fast approaching, so I took a couple of steps back and pulled out my badge.

Two black-and-whites came screeching to a stop and the officers got out with weapons drawn. I held my badge up in the air.

"I'm on the job!" I called out to them. "Detective Eames, Major Case!"

Twenty minutes later, Ethan was secured in the back of one of the squad cars. That was when Bobby arrived.

"Eames!" he shouted to me as he climbed out of a borrowed Audi. I gave him points for the use of my last name because I could tell he was sweating bullets.

"I'm fine," I said. "Ethan Garrett's in custody."

Bobby approached me as quickly as was professionally appropriate and I watched as he assessed the scene.

"You pulled the emergency brake, didn't you?" he asked me finally. He had relief and humor in his voice. "You've been dying to use that move."

"Well, how often do we get to do that in the city?" I asked. He caught my eye and nodded his head, telling me so much more than words would ever say. _Thank God you're okay. I'm sorry I wasn't here, but I never doubted you for a second. _

"Did Ethan admit to anything?" he asked after his silent speech.

"He said that this isn't over. So far, that's all he's said. I Mirandized him, and he's ready to go. They're going to take him to the 9-4 for processing. I told the officers that we'd come there to interrogate him."

"How'd you manage that?"

"One of the officers over there used to be partners with my brother."

"You called in a favor?" Bobby asked me, the surprise evident on his face.

"Yeah, I did. Just this once." He knew I hated the buddy-boy system, and that I very rarely used the connections that were available to me, considering that I had numerous family members on the job. But we needed to stay away from 1PP a little longer, so this time it was worth it.

"Where's Logan?" I asked suddenly when I realized he was missing.

"He stopped to make things right with the owner of this Audi," Bobby told me with a sheepish grin. "And he then he probably went back to get his own SUV out of that traffic jam. He may be awhile."

"Call him and tell him to meet us at the 9-4."

I got back into my SUV and thankfully it started right up. The rear bumper had some damage, as did the left rear quarter panel, but it was fine mechanically. Bobby followed me in the Audi and within twenty minutes, we parked up the block from the precinct.

"Hey Eames!" he called to me when I got out.

"What?"

"Come here! I want to show you something." Bobby turned and walked up the block, away from the precinct. I had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to show me.

He turned the corner into an alley and I followed him. I was barely clear from the view of the main street when Bobby snagged me and hauled me against his chest.

"Okay, so Plan B didn't work out quite like I hoped," I said quietly, trying desperately to keep some levity in the situation. My adrenaline was fading fast and I knew from experience that the next phase was usually extreme emotions. We had an interrogation to conduct and I wasn't going to do it with a tear-stained face.

"Alex, just let me hold onto you for a second, okay?" he whispered. I worked my arms around him, under his jacket. It felt nice to be held after such a heart-stopping experience. It made me wonder again why we had waited seven years before we decided that it was okay to hug.

Bobby took a deep breath, and I knew he was smelling me. I smiled a little and gave him an extra squeeze before letting him go.

"I just needed to get my feet back under me," he admitted. "I didn't want to go in there and talk to Ethan Garrett while still feeling like I've been punched in the gut."

"Good idea," I assured him. I ran my hand along the side of his face and he closed his eyes. "Ready now?"

He opened his eyes and nodded at me.

"I'm ready. Let's go work him over and find out where his old man is hiding." We walked out of the alley and back down the block.

"Do you want to be the good cop or bad cop?"

"Oh, you're the bad cop, Eames. You are one _bad ass_ cop." I laughed out loud. Bobby's sense of humor was back, his confidence was back…he was a force to be reckoned with. _And he's all mine_.

"Oh, hey, I almost forgot," I said as we entered the precinct. "Carolyn got the first-Amendment party-line from the reporter who wrote that article. He won't reveal any sources or even whether there is more than one source."

"Story like that would've had to be backed up," Bobby said thoughtfully. "It had to come from someone reliable, someone with clout."

"There's still someone on the inside at 1PP, isn't there?" I dreaded the thought of another dirty cop, but as much as we kept trying to prove otherwise, the evidence kept dragging us back in that direction.

"It looks like it," Bobby said as his cell phone rang.

"Goren," he answered. He mouthed to me that it was Logan, so I waited in the lobby with him while he finished his call. I let my mind wander, mapping out a strategy for how best to get Ethan Garrett to talk.

"Eames, we've got to go."

"What?" I looked up to see that Bobby had put his phone away. He grabbed me by the elbow and started hustling me toward the exit.

"What's going on?" I asked, although I went willingly. I trusted his judgment implicitly.

"Logan just got word from an old friend of his from his days at the 2-7. IAB is actively seeking us out. They heard about your accident on the scanner, and they're getting ready to send out instructions that we be escorted back to 1PP."

"Shit!" I swore softly. I glanced behind us to see if we were being followed, but fortunately since we hadn't gone all the way into the precinct, they did not seem to realize yet that we had arrived. "Are they actually going to issue a warrant?"

"No, but they're buying the whole cover up thing hook, line and sinker. Ross has been tap dancing all day, but it's not working. They want us in their office so that they can separate us and interrogate us."

By this time we were down the front steps of the precinct and with impeccable timing, Logan pulled up in his SUV.

"Anybody here need a getaway car?" he asked with a grin when Bobby opened the door.

"This just keeps getting better," I muttered, sandwiching myself in the front seat between Bobby and Mike. "If I'd known we weren't going to get to talk to Ethan here, I would've questioned him more before."

"I know."

"Now we don't know one damn thing more than we knew this morning," I complained. This _sucked_.

"This is all Judge Garrett. This is what he wanted. Our careers are in question, our lives are in danger…he's back to playing puppet master."

We drove back through the city to Bobby's apartment. Logan kept a close eye in the rear view mirror, but with Ethan in lock-up we didn't anticipate that anyone would actually follow us. IAB wanted us, but they weren't going to resort to Gestapo tactics. At least, I didn't think so.

"What are you going to do?" I asked Logan when he pulled up to the curb, engine idling.

"Carolyn's been stuck at the hospital all day. Ross is ready to be discharged. I'm going to pick them all up and take them back to my place."

"Be careful," I warned.

"We'll be fine. Three guns, no waiting."

"Call when you get there," Bobby said. He reached across the front seat to shake Logan's hand. "Thanks again for your help. I owe you."

"You guys just watch your backs."

The elevator appeared to be on the fritz, so we climbed the stairs to Bobby's apartment. I was exhausted and my head was pounding. I was likely suffering from a mild case of whiplash, not to mention that my brain just needed a break.

"Want to order some take-out?" I asked Bobby as we crossed the threshold. And then I stopped. There was an envelope on the floor about three feet from the door, as though it had been shoved underneath. It was a nine-by-twelve manila. I looked up at Bobby and he looked at me.

"Please tell me that is not what I think it is," he said softly. I didn't want him to open it. I didn't want to face the facts in front of me, but he moved towards it anyway. And picked it up.

"Bobby," I began. "Wait." I put my hand on top of his, so that ours rested together on top of the envelope.

"We deal with this together, okay?" I waited for his eyes to meet mine. When they did, my breath caught. Sure, I saw dread – the same dread that was mirrored in my own. But I also saw so much love and determination that it made me ashamed of my own hesitation.

"I love you," I told him, amazed by how easily the words flowed off my tongue. Last night had been the first and only time I'd said it to him, but now it seemed natural.

"I love you, too," he said with a smile. And then he opened the envelope.

He pulled out photographs, seven of them in all. Eight by ten glossies of Bobby and me in various states of undress, right there in his apartment. It was our second night together. I recognized it immediately because I had stripped for him and then enticed him to follow me into the kitchen. And now the moment was forever immortalized in more than just our own minds.

I looked at Bobby, who was entranced with the photos, and asked the million-dollar question.

"So who else do you think got a set of these?"

TBC...


	13. Chapter 13

**Bobby POV**

* * *

I was upset about the pictures. Really. Our relationship being outted could cost us our working partnership.

But I'm also a guy. And the guy in me couldn't help but appreciate the photos themselves.

Considering the fact that prior to five days ago, I'd only seen these images in my head, I couldn't help but be enthralled. Because not only did I not look as bad as I would've thought, but Alex looked incredible.

"Bobby," Alex said.

"Hmm?" I responded, struggling to pull my eyes away from the pictures. She smiled at me patiently.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"No. I'm sorry." She reached over and took the pictures from my hands.

"Who else do you think got a set of these?" I thought about it for a moment. Ross…Chief of D's…the possibilities were endless. And then I had another thought.

"How do you think these got here?" I asked her. "Or better yet, _when_ do you think these got here?"

"Somebody obviously shoved them under the door," she replied. But then she took a good look at my door, and she saw what I already knew. There wouldn't have been enough room underneath.

"Son of a bitch," Alex muttered. She went to the door and checked out my lock.

"Scratched," she confirmed. With the pictures out of my sight, my brain was once again firing on all synapses.

"It was Ethan. He must have done it early in the day, before he went to 1PP to watch for us."

"I agree. He's the one doing all the legwork in their operation."

"Right. So what if he didn't have a chance to deliver the others yet?" I watched her face while everything clicked into place.

"Shit. How long do you think we've got?" she asked hurriedly as we ran out the door.

"It's hard to say," I replied, taking the steps two at a time. Alex was right on my heels as we bounded down the four flights. "Depends on how backed up they are."

Since our department-issue SUV was still parked on the street in front of the 94th precinct, we raced towards my vintage mustang. It was possible that _just maybe_ those pictures were still in envelopes somewhere in Ethan Garrett's car.

"I'm driving," Alex informed me as we approached my vehicle. I didn't argue. I tossed her the keys and climbed into the passenger side. She started up the car and threw the light on top.

"We _need_ to get those pictures back," she told me once we were en route to the scene of the accident.

"I know."

"It's not even that I care about having them find out. Really, Bobby," she insisted, taking her eyes off the road briefly to look at me.

"Okay," I said. I knew if I gave her a little time, then she would say what she needed to say.

"I mean, I don't want them to know because I don't want to lose you as a partner at work. I love working with you."

"I know."

"It's just that…damn, Bobby, I am naked in those pictures!"

"I know," I said, trying to hide a smile. "So am I."

"I know, but you're a guy so it's not the same. These are our bosses we're talking about. If we're right, and the pictures got sent to them, then they will have seen me naked. And I don't care how professional they pretend to be, but every conversation I have with them in the future, they're going to be recalling those pictures in their minds."

"Alex," I said, placing a comforting hand on her leg. "We'll get them back. If I have to go to the Chief of D's house and raid his mailbox, or march down to 1PP and pull them straight out of his inbox, I will do it. Okay?"

She blew out a breath. And then took in a deep breath and blew out again.

"Okay. I'm sorry. I know I'm freaking out here. All of this mess we've been through over the past several days, all the trouble we could be in, the damage to our careers, and I'm worrying about people seeing me naked."

"It's a basic human response," I assured her.

During this conversation, Alex had been driving like a bat out of hell towards the Midtown Tunnel. We got there in record time and barreled through to the other side. She pulled off at the same exit as she had earlier in the day and then she slowed down and turned off the siren.

"What are we going to do if they're there right now?" she asked me.

"They work for the impound lot. They're not going to know about the IAB interest, especially this fast. If they're there, we badge them and search the car."

And that was exactly what happened. An NYPD tow truck was pulled over on the side of the road next to where Ethan's car had gone in the ditch.

"Excuse me!" I called out to the officer. He was walking around to the front, apparently determining where best to hook up his chain.

"What can I do for you?" he asked good-naturedly.

"Detective Goren, Major Case. My partner here was driving the other car involved in this accident. We've got the suspect in holding at the 9-4, but we'd like to take a quick look through the vehicle before you remove it."

"You should've done that before."

"Yeah, I know," Alex spoke up, pouring on the charm. "But I was a little shaken up in the crash, and I wasn't thinking straight. I don't want to get in trouble with my captain." _Was she actually flirting with the guy?_

"Oh, yeah, sure. I understand. Just a couple of minutes, okay?" he asked. Damn, it worked! Now if our luck holds and those pictures are still in the car…

"Bobby!" Alex called to me from the passenger side back seat. I trotted around the outside of the car. She stood up and held up an envelope addressed to the chief at 1PP.

"I bet he was going to deliver this personally when he ran into us outside," I purported. "Just one envelope?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. "Would he have only made one extra set?"

Before I could answer, my cell rang. It was Logan. I was starting to hate when he called because he rarely had good news. This time wasn't any different.

"You guys get anything interesting delivered to you today?" he asked. My heart sank. Alex would never recover if she thought Logan had seen those pictures.

"Why?" I asked guardedly.

"I'm Ross' house. I've got everybody with me. We just came by here so that Rodgers could pack him some clothes."

"And?" _Please don't say it, please don't say it_. I looked up and realized that Alex was watching me intently.

"And she found an envelope tucked into their front door."

"Just say it, Logan and stop fucking around!" I yelled, my patience having finally snapped.

"Nobody looked but Rodgers." Relief flooded through me. It might be a little awkward for me and for her, but hey…she was a doctor, after all.

"Ross?"

"Nope. Is it as bad as I think it is?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "So Liz picked them up and looked, and then did what with them?"

"She's got them in her bag. She didn't even tell Ross that anything was there. She's pretty slick, our good doctor, and I think she's got a soft spot for you and Eames. I only know about it because I was escorting her into the house."

"Well, we got a set at my place. And right now, we're back at Ethan Garrett's car looking at an identical envelope, this one addressed to Chief Moran."

"Holy shit. He's going at us with both guns. You think there would be anyone else?" I'd been trying to figure out the answer to that one for the past half-hour, but I came up empty.

"I don't think so. The chief and the captain would do the most damage."

"Anything else in the car?" Logan asked. _Shit_.

"We haven't even looked yet," I confessed. "Damn, he's getting exactly what he wanted, isn't he? He had us so worked up about the pictures that we can't even think straight."

"Goren," Logan said calmly. I was still only halfway through my rant, but I settled down at the sound of his voice.

"Yeah?"

"You're smarter than he is," he told me pointedly. "Act like it. You and Eames search that car and then get your asses to my place. Looks like we're going to have a sleepover."

I hung up the phone and looked at Eames.

"Good news and bad," I told her. She raised her eyebrow at me.

"There was a set of pictures that got sent to Ross." She sucked in her breath sharply and panic swept over her face.

"But," I added quickly. "But Rodgers is the one that found them. She saw what they were and stashed them in her bag. Logan knows about them, but didn't see them."

"Oh thank God."

"And right now, Garrett's winning," I reminded her. "We're making mistakes right and left. We've got to get in this game, Eames. Let's search the car and see what else we can find, and then get over to Logan's. We're going to put all six heads together and see what we can come up with."

"Okay. You're right. I'm sorry. I've let this whole thing get to me."

"It did me, too. But no more, right?"

"The Goren and Eames show, back in town," she said with a grin. I smiled back, and just like that – we were back.

* * *

An hour later, just as it was starting to get dark, we arrived at Logan's house. Alex parked the car and killed the engine, but didn't move to unbuckle.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked me.

"What? Brainstorming? It's what I do."

"No, I mean we're going to be around Ross for an extended period of time. We'll be with a roomful of people, all of whom know about our relationship except Ross."

"Do you think we should tell him? Part of what's had us so off-kilter is the fact that we're trying to keep this whole thing a secret."

"No," she replied immediately. "Ross is in enough of a bind already. If we tell him, he'll have to respond. He'll have to assign us new partners."

"And you think he won't read body language?"

"Just what is it you think my body's saying to you, Bobby?" she asked with a tease. _God, I love her_. All this crap going on in our lives, and she can make a joke.

"Well," I drawled out. "I can keep my lascivious thoughts to myself, but I don't know about you…"

I was rewarded for my comment with a whack to the back of the head followed by a laugh. She then unbuckled and got out of the car, walking around to meet me. She held up our prize from the search of the car.

"I don't know about you, but I sure feel a hell of a lot better now that we have this," she said. The camera, with the memory stick intact, had been in the center console of Ethan's car.

"We don't have to erase anything off of there, do we?" I asked, just to see what she would say.

"What if there are pictures of Logan and Barek on here?" she asked suddenly. That thought hadn't occurred to me. But it brought to mind more possibilities.

"Or Ross and Rodgers?" I added.

"Oh God," Alex moaned. "We've got to know what all is on here, but who are we going to let look?"

"I vote Rodgers. She's already seen some of our pictures, and she knows what she and Ross look like, so…"

"I'm with you. Rodgers it is."

TBC...


	14. Chapter 14

**Alex POV**

* * *

"So nice of you to join us, Detectives," Ross said to us when Bobby and I walked into Logan's living room.

"Captain," I replied with a nod. "You're looking a lot better than you were the last time I saw you." I had to say that, had to remind him that while we were likely going to have to do some scrambling to get out of trouble, he was right there with us. _His_ secret wife was the murder suspect, _he_ had been shot, and we were just trying to solve a case. He was no innocent bystander and I didn't want to waste time battling him for the upper hand. We were all culpable here.

Ross gave me a little nod. _Message received_.

"Whatcha got there, Eames?" Logan asked me, gesturing toward the camera that I held at my side. He was trying to play innocent, but I knew that he knew damn well what was going on.

"Evidence from Ethan Garrett's car," I said casually, holding up the camera as though it contained nothing of interest. "The battery is dead, so we weren't able to see what's on it, but the memory card is still there."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ross asked. "Logan's got a fairly new television, so I'm sure it has a port for the memory card."

"No!" I shouted in synchronicity with Bobby and Rodgers. Ross looked surprised, and both Logan and Carolyn looked ready to crack up. No doubt, Logan had filled her in.

"So we have a camera from the suspect's car and we're _not_ going to look at the pictures?" Ross asked suspiciously.

"Liz is going to look the pictures over," I said.

"Me? Why?" she asked.

"Because you're a _doctor_ and you've _seen it all_ before," I stressed. Damn Logan for mentioning the camera. I had hoped to fill Rodgers in on the plan in private.

"But she's not a cop," Ross countered. "Some of us here _are_."

"There's probably pictures of Logan and Barek on there, Captain!" Bobby blurted out, hanging Logan out to dry. Sure, it was embarrassing for them, but they didn't work for the man anymore, so what they did in their private time didn't matter.

Ross just sighed and put his hand over his face.

"Then let Logan look at it."

"Yeah, I'll check it out for you, Captain," Logan offered with a leer. He reached for the camera, but I stepped back.

"And maybe you and Liz," I added uncomfortably, unable to meet my captain's eyes.

"What, did this guy just go around to people's houses, snapping dirty pictures? Okay, fine. Liz, look at the pictures and let us know if there's anything we need to see."

I handed Rodgers the camera. I had trouble making eye contact with her, too, but she patted me on the arm reassuringly.

"I'll take this up to the guest room. My laptop is there. If there is anything…um…useful, I'll copy it onto a data stick and bring it down." She gave me a smile and then left the room. I couldn't help but notice her glance appraisingly at Bobby on the way out, and I felt a flush rise to my cheeks. _God, would this day ever end?_

"So, get me up to speed," Ross said. Everyone got settled around the living room. I selected a chair as far away from Bobby as I could get. He had me nervous about the whole 'body language' thing.

Once we were situated, we filled him in on what we knew. Bobby and I each took turns offering up the facts. Carolyn piped in to tell about her conversation with the reporter, and Logan gave his version of events concerning chasing the perp from outside of his house the night before.

"What did you find out from the chief?" I asked him when we had finished.

"He sent the story into the paper."

"What?"

"He stopped by the office yesterday, and found a file on his desk. It contained information on Marcus Rodgers' death, along with a few details: Liz had no alibi, she was owed money by the deceased, and there was trace evidence that placed her with the victim. There was a note with the file that said the detectives running the case were trying to bury the evidence."

"So he just gave it to the paper?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, he apparently tried to call me to find out what was going on, but I was unavailable."

"There has to be more to it than that," Bobby insisted. "The chief of detectives doesn't just throw a story to the press. I can understand why that file might have prompted an IAB investigation, but even Moran had to know that having it published in the paper would just bring bad p.r. to the department."

"Oh, I think there _was_ more to it, Detective. You're exactly right, as usual," Liz told us as she came back downstairs. She held up a flash drive.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I said.

"You have no idea how much I wish I were," she replied dryly. She went to Logan's TV and plugged the data stick into the USB port. Logan grabbed the remote and changed the TV to the correct input.

And then there it was, spread out across Logan's 60-inch plasma TV. The Chief of D's and his secretary, _in flagrante delicto._

It was like watching a train wreck. I wanted desperately to look away, but I couldn't.

"So he was being blackmailed," Carolyn said, thankfully breaking my trance.

"This is getting ridiculous," Ross said. "Garrett wants revenge on the four of you, no wait – the five of you, because you had him sent to prison. To do this, he sets Liz up for murder, and then tries to make the two of you look like dirty cops, and in order to do _that_, he blackmails the chief."

"I'd say that sums it up pretty good, Captain," Logan said. And it did, except for the part he left out about Garrett trying to ruin me and Bobby by outing our relationship. There was no way we were going to get through this without that coming out, but I was damn sure going to give it my best effort.

"So what has he done to you, Logan?" Ross asked. Good question. We all looked at Mike and Carolyn.

"Nothing yet," he replied slowly.

"He might have something planned," Rodgers offered. Carolyn rolled her eyes.

"Are you really going to tell me that there were pictures of me and Mike on that camera? For God's sake, who cares about seeing that? We're consenting adults, and there are no fra…" I coughed loudly, and she stopped herself before she said the whole word 'fraternization'. And then she tried to cover.

"There are no other parties involved. We're free to do what we want," she finished lamely.

"It wasn't just _you_ and Mike, Carolyn."

"What?" Mike yelled. "Me with somebody else? Show it to me, now. Unless that picture is more than a year old, it's fake. And there's no way he's been following us that long. Hell, he and the kid were both still in prison."

"Settle down, Detective," Rodgers said calmly. "I didn't mean to imply it was x-rated." She took the remote from Logan's hand and advanced the next picture.

The photo was of Mike and Wheeler, sitting in a restaurant.

"Big deal. He had lunch with her last week," Carolyn said. "How is this blackmail material?"

"By itself, it's not," Bobby said. He had been quiet for so long that I almost forgot he was in the room. His voice prompted me to look at him, and the intensity with which he looked at the TV screen reminded me of how he'd look at me last night. I felt myself get warm and I had to look away. _Best to go back to forgetting he's in the room_.

"What else?" Bobby asked, moving closer to the television. Liz scrolled through several more photos of Logan and Wheeler. All were from the same lunch date. Another click brought us back around to the picture of Moran again and we all groaned.

"Please turn that thing off," Ross said.

"Rodgers, were there also pictures of Mike and Carolyn on there?"

"Yes."

"I bet he was going to photo shop them."

"You mean he was going to put Wheeler's head on my body and then try to pass it off as though Mike was having an affair with her?"

"It's the only thing I can think of. He can't get to you guys through your work. He has no leverage there."

"That's just crazy," Carolyn said. "He's getting desperate."

"I think he is," Bobby agreed.

"All of this is fascinating, really," Ross said sarcastically. "But what are we going to do about it?"

"Well, Ethan is probably still in lock-up at the 9-4, but Bobby and I can't go near him until IAB drops their inquiry."

"And they won't do that except on orders from Moran, and _he's_ not going to do that as long as he's being blackmailed."

"So we need to find Judge Garrett another way."

"Or I go talk to Ethan," Logan suggested.

"They're not going to let you talk to him," I countered.

"What if I bail him out?"

So we hashed out a plan that involved Logan posting bail for Ethan Garrett. He would try talking to him, intimidating him somewhat, but if that didn't work, then the rest of us would be there to keep a tail on him. We could let him lead us back to the judge.

It was well past midnight when everyone decided to call it a night. Liz pulled me aside in the kitchen and handed me an envelope. It was the pictures that had been delivered to Ross.

"Thank you, Liz. Really."

"Don't mention it," she said. "And I mean that," she added with a smile. And then she handed me the memory card from the camera. "You guys hang onto this, or destroy it, whatever. I pulled off everything except the ones of you two."

I breathed a sigh of relief and tucked the memory card into my pocket. She patted me on the shoulder and walked past me towards the doorway. She passed Bobby, who was just on his way in.

"Detective," she greeted him. He blushed and looked at the floor, but Liz just looked back at me and winked before leaving the room.

"I am never going to be able to look her in the eye again," Bobby said quietly once we were alone.

"I don't think she's ever going to look at you quite the same again, either," I teased.

We were standing across from each other, leaning our backs against opposing counter tops. I met his eyes and felt a warmth rush through me.

"I don't know if I can sleep without you next to me," I said softly. I was going to be in the remaining guest room and Bobby would be on the couch.

"I was thinking the same thing."

"Maybe you could meet me in the coat closet in an hour," I said playfully. I didn't think for a second that he would take me seriously. He did.

"Maybe I will." His eyes raked over every inch of me, and I could just _feel_ his hands following the same path.

"You've got quite the sex drive for a man your age," I told him. "I'm rather impressed."

"What can I say, Eames? I've been storing it up for seven years," he said huskily, repeating my sentiment from a few nights ago. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, forcing myself to remember just exactly where we were. In a house, with our boss.

"God, Bobby, I think we need to take some time after this. Go somewhere warm, okay?"

"Take a vacation together?"

"Absolutely. Are you in?" Before he could answer, we heard footsteps. We both did our best to wipe the looks of love off of our faces.

"Detectives, do you think I'm stupid?" Ross asked us when he entered the kitchen. I swallowed hard and thought about how to answer that question.

"Umm…no sir?" Bobby answered for the two of us.

"Really. Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir. I…I mean…yes I'm sure that we don't…um…we don't think you're...um...stupid." Wonderful. Bobby was stuttering. I'd be on my own with this one.

"So why is it that you think I'd believe that there are pictures on that camera of only four out of the six of us involved in this little fiasco?" I wiped my face clean of any emotion while my brain was running a marathon. _Did Liz rat us out? Had he found the pictures in her bag before she gave them to me? Did Logan slip up and let it out?_

"Probably because neither of us is in a relationship, sir," Bobby said easily. _What? How did he come up with that?_ "There would be no pictures to take. Or at least, I don't think so. Eames?"

"No…no. Um…no pictures, no." _Oh_ _great, Alex. That was eloquent_.

"Oh. Well, okay. I guess that makes sense," Ross conceded. He looked back and forth between the two of us. "Well, good night then. And I wanted to thank you both for not mentioning the marriage thing. Liz told me that she confided in you, and that she trusted you to keep it a secret. So thank you."

"You're welcome," Bobby said. He accepted Ross' outstretched hand and shook it. Ross turned and left us alone in the kitchen. It was another minute before I could breathe.

I looked at Bobby, and he was staring at me with a full grin on his face.

"You are just the smartest damn man I have ever known," I told him. His grin got even bigger. He pushed away from the counter and gave me a quick, yet searing kiss.

"I'm going to the couch."

"Okay. Good night."

"Good night," he said as he headed for the living room. And then he stopped and looked back at me. "And Alex…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm in." I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Coat closet, vacation, us. All of it. I'm all in."

TBC...


	15. Chapter 15

**Bobby POV**

* * *

I slept fitfully. I couldn't decide if it was being in a different house, or the fact that I was listening for intruders, or that I was without Alex. I'll say it was combination of all three, but I firmly believe that if I had Alex with me, I could sleep on a concrete pad in the middle of the Arctic.

I shifted positions on the couch for the umpteeth time and I pondered our situation. What did Garrett have to gain from all of this? Simply vindication? Did he just want to take as many people down with him as he could? His wife was still upstate, serving time for the murder of Bethany Lunden, but I don't think he ever really cared about his wife. He was just interested in sleeping with as many women as possible to try to maintain his studly self-image.

And what had happened to Ethan? He had been screwed up, clearly. His father's sexual deviancy had done a number on him, but I thought he was young enough to recover from that. I guess the time he spent in prison had sealed his fate. He got out and then started sneaking around, taking photos through people's windows, doing scouting reports for his old man…He was a deviant now, too, just like his father.

Was it inevitable for men to end up like their fathers? That thought sent my brain into vapor lock. _You are nothing like your father, either of them._ It was funny – now I was hearing Alex's voice in my head. That got my thought process moving again. _Alex._

We had scheduled our little two a.m. tryst in Logan's coat closet. I looked at my watch. Two-oh-three. I was sure that she thought I wouldn't actually go through with it, but I couldn't help myself. I was addicted to her.

So I sent her a text message. _Are you coming? _

She replied quickly: _Not yet, but I'd like to_.

Wicked sense of humor, my little Eames. It was only a minute before I heard her creeping down the stairs. I met her in the foyer. She looked flushed and aroused already, causing me to instantly harden.

And then she looked hesitant.

"What's wrong? I asked.

"I…um…"

"If you don't want to do this, I understand," I assured her. It would likely take me a cold shower and thoughts of the now-infamous Moran photo before my body went back to normal, but I _understood_.

"It's not that," she said shyly. _Alex, shy? _I waited patiently.

"I know this sounds like such a typical female that I hate to even bring it up, but…"

"Alex, what is it?"

"That picture, of Moran and Denise." _What? _I thought. And then I thought it again so I had to say it.

"What?"

"Did seeing Denise like that bring back any…um…feelings you might have had for her?" _No_, but I swear, seeing Alex so vulnerable and unsure of herself just broke my heart.

"Alex, I never slept with Denise. I never even went out with her. I know we've joked about it before, but that was all it was – just jokes."

"Really?"

"Really. And the only thought I had after seeing her like that was thank God I never agreed to go out with her. She's sleeping with her boss, for God's sake. An old, married, unattractive man. What does that say about her?"

Alex pulled me into a hug then. I knew she probably felt silly about her insecurities, but I was glad she had talked to me about them. I'd had no idea she really suspected a relationship between us.

"I'm sorry," she said. "We're supposed to be in here having steamy, passionate sex, and I'm being all sappy and girly." She chuckled a little bit at herself, and I put my hand under her chin tipping up her head so that she was looking at me.

"I'm glad you asked," I assured her. And then I grinned. "But we can still have the steamy, passionate sex now, right?"

At that point, she attacked me. We knocked down several coats that were hanging in the closet, and a couple of umbrellas. I was grateful that the rest of the bedrooms were upstairs, because all we needed was for Logan to hear something and come down to fling open the closet door. I literally had to put my hand over her mouth at one point, just to keep her from calling out.

But it was worth the risk and it was all that I had hoped it would be. I flat-out just could not get enough of her, and it was more than an hour later when we finally emerged from the closet. I settled myself back on the couch, but before she had even been gone ten minutes, my thoughts went back to her. I wanted her so damn bad that I couldn't think of anything else.

And then that thought brought me back around to my earlier musings about Harold Garrett. Was that how he felt? So obsessed with revenge that he couldn't think of anything else? If so, he was going to be hard to bring down. He'd nearly managed it the first go-round, and it seemed he was even better prepared now.

_We need to talk to Moran_, I thought at last. This is one giant circle-jerk of a blackmail scam here. Ross is hiding a marriage, Moran is hiding an affair, Alex and I are hiding a relationship…maybe if we go talk to him and get everything out in the open, we can all just walk away from it. Buy maybe not. Moran is a self-important ass and if he could find a way to save himself and throw the rest of us under the bus, then he would do it.

Footsteps on the stairs brought me back to the here and now, and I realized that the sun was starting to come up. Ross came into the living room, and I sat up on the couch and scrubbed my hands over my face. He sat down in the chair across from me. He didn't say anything, so I started it.

"Why are you and Rodgers keeping the marriage a secret?" I asked, cutting through all the bullshit. He sighed deeply. He had to know I was going to ask that eventually.

"The chief made it clear when I got the position at Major Case that it was a job for a single man."

"What? He can't do that."

"He can't, but he did. He said Deakins wasn't dedicated enough to the department since his first loyalties were to his wife and kids."

"Okay, well first off, that's crap about Deakins. He was the best damn captain the department had even seen. No offense of course," I added quickly when I realized how that sounded. I just wasn't going to let anyone smear Jimmy Deakins, not even as hearsay.

"None taken. I appreciate your loyalty to him." That threw me for a second, but then I continued with my train of thought.

"Secondly, that makes no sense, because you've got kids, too," I reminded him stupidly, as if he didn't know that.

"I've got kids who live with their mother. It's not the same thing."

"So you agreed to it?"

"It wasn't so much as I agreed, but I just said it wouldn't be a problem. I never imagined myself getting married again."

I thought about that for a bit. I appreciated his honesty and I thought that maybe he and I were turning a corner.

"And Rodgers is okay with keeping it a secret?"

"It's not like people don't know we're together. We're just not advertising that we're legally together. I don't know what Moran would do, and quite frankly, I don't want to find out."

"So it's don't ask, don't tell, huh?" I questioned. It was an interesting conversation to have with Ross, and I felt like maybe we were talking about much more than his marriage. Maybe.

"I've always been a firm believer in that, Detective." He held my gaze for a moment longer before Logan and Carolyn joined us in the living room.

"So," Logan began. "I'm going to head out first thing and take care of Ethan's bail. How much can I rough him up?"

"Maybe Barek needs to handle this," Ross said wryly.

"Ah, come on, Captain. I've mellowed out a lot since my days as the department hothead."

"Yeah, that's been what, a couple of months? Just remember that we need him in one piece. And you don't need to get any assault charges filed against you."

"Sure thing, Boss."

By seven, we were all ready to head out. Ross was going to go to 1PP. He wanted to have a sit-down with Moran and try to convince him to drop the IAB inquest. I don't know how he planned to even look at the man after seeing the picture we saw last night, but I guess I have to say that I have new respect for Ross.

Ross also planned to issue a statement from the department, disputing the cover-up story. We didn't have enough evidence to name the Garretts as suspects, but we could say that we had _strong_ suspects under investigation and that Dr. Rodgers had been cleared of all possible involvement.

As for the rest of us, we were on shadow duty. Alex and I were going to be in one car, while Carolyn and Rodgers were in another. We were going to park near the 94th precinct and follow Ethan after his release.

And the plan worked beautifully.

Logan came out of the precinct about thirty minutes after going in. He had Ethan in tow. After a short conversation in Logan's SUV, Ethan climbed out and slammed the door. He took off at a good clip down the block.

"He's pissed. I got him worked up pretty good," Logan told me on the phone after Ethan left his truck. "But his car's still in impound, and for some reason he didn't want to call the old man to come pick him up, so you guys are going to have to do it on foot."

"Let's go," I said to Alex when I hung up the phone. She grinned at me and got out of the car. The thrill of the chase is part of the draw of law enforcement. And Alex liked it better than most.

We were miked up with Carolyn and Liz, so we kept up a steady stream of information going between us. After four blocks, Ethan went down to the subway.

"Eames and I are on it," I said into my mike just before we went down. I knew there would be no reception once we went below ground. She and I blended into the flow of Tuesday morning workday subway traffic.

"Over there!" Eames said after we thought we'd lost him. We caught up quickly and stood near him on the platform, waiting for the next train. At one point, he started to turn toward us, so I grabbed Alex and kissed her hard. I backed her into a column and we went at it like we didn't have a care in the world. I heard the train coming, so I managed to sneak a peak in Ethan's direction. He was no longer looking at us. I backed off, somewhat regretfully.

"You never did that when we were on stakeouts before," she told me breathlessly.

"Well, I always wanted to," I admitted with a grin.

The train came to a stop at the platform, and we got on board, one car down from Ethan. It was tough to keep an eye on him without being seen. To be honest, at my size I'm a little hard to disguise, but we managed nicely. Any time he appeared to turn our way, we had a make-out session. It was a tough job some days.

It wasn't long before Ethan started making his way towards the doors. He got off at the next stop - Port Authority.

"Well, well. What d'ya know," Alex said. "Closest stop to Hell's Kitchen."

We were back to where it all began.

TBC...


	16. Chapter 16

**Alex POV**

* * *

"We're in Hell's Kitchen," I reported into my mike once we were back up top. "He's getting a coffee at a vendor on West 42nd between 8th and 9th."

"Shit, it's going to take us a little while to catch up with you. Liz and I are back in the car, but we're still in Brooklyn."

"That's fine. We're just going to follow him for now," Bobby told her. But then he looked at me and winked. I knew there was no way in hell that Bobby was going to wait for back-up if Ethan actually took us to Judge Garrett.

"Ross checked in a few minutes ago. He said Moran's playing hardball. He doesn't want to back down on the IAB inquiry because he's sure you two are dirty."

"What a prick," I replied. "Garrett must really have his balls in a vice."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure he threatened to send copies of those pictures to his wife and probably the mayor," Carolyn said. I looked at Bobby and he looked pensive. I knew that brain of his was going a mile a minute. I turned back toward Ethan and saw that he was walking again.

"Ethan's on the move. We're gonna go silent for awhile," I said to Carolyn. "Let us know when you get in the area." I turned off the mike portion but left the earpiece in.

"What are you thinking?" I asked Bobby as we trailed along behind Ethan.

"Why _would_ Denise sleep with someone like Moran?" It was a random question, but I knew he had a purpose. Bobby always did.

"Get ahead in her job, maybe? Or she's got a thing for old, fat, bald guys?"

"And how did that file get on Moran's desk on a Sunday?" Bobby posed. "There's no way either Ethan or Garrett just strolled into 1PP and got into the chief's office."

I looked at Bobby again, and then gasped when he whirled me around and pinned me up against a building. He leaned down and kissed my neck before whispering in my ear.

"He looked back at us," he explained as he put soft kisses down my jaw line.

"Lucky me."

"I think Denise is in this thing."

"What?" I was trying to follow his train of thought, really. But damn this was hard. And then Bobby pulled back. He took his hands and brushed my hair back from my face and then stepped away.

"Come on. He turned up 10th."

"How can you do that?" I asked, struggling to pull myself together and focus on the task at hand. "How can you be kissing me and thinking about the case at the same time?"

"Years of practice, Eames. Except usually it's the other way around. I'm working on the case and thinking about kissing you. I've learned to multi-task," he said with a grin.

"Look! He's turning onto 44th," I said.

We turned the corner onto 44th just in time to see Ethan trotting up the steps of a large apartment building.

"We've got to hurry or we'll never know which one," I said. As soon as the front door closed behind him, we took off running. Bobby had longer legs, but I'm in better shape so we reached the front door at about the same time.

"There's got to be a hundred apartments in here." And of course, the front door was on a buzzer.

"Hey, buzz 1-E," I told Bobby. "It's listed as the super." Surely if Judge Garrett were living here, he had not taken over managerial duties, so it would be safe to identify ourselves.

"NYPD," Bobby called out when the super answered. "Buzz us in!"

"You got a warrant?"

"What?"

"You gotta have a warrant!" Bobby looked at me and rolled his eyes.

"I don't need a damn warrant to get into the lobby of an apartment building! You either buzz me in now, or I will go get a warrant, with your name on it, for obstruction of justice!" I yelled into the box. Two seconds later, the door came open.

"Nice, Eames. Very nice," Bobby said as we hurried into the lobby. We looked at the elevator. It wasn't in motion, but it was sitting on the third floor.

"No one else has been in since Ethan," I commented. "Either he took the stairs, or he's on the third floor."

"He spent the night in lock-up, and he just walked six blocks from the subway. He's not walking up more stairs."

I clicked on my mike.

"Carolyn, we're at 502 W. 44th Street. It's likely that at least Ethan, if not both Garretts, are in an apartment on the third floor. We're going to head on up and check it out."

"Wait for us, guys!" she countered. "Logan's almost there, and we're about ten minutes out."

I didn't answer her. Instead, I turned my mike back off and followed Bobby to the stairwell.

"So you think Denise set up the blackmail photos of the chief?"

"Did you notice where they were?" I hadn't given it much thought, but that photo was emblazoned in my brain, so it didn't take much to recall.

"They were in his office!"

"Right. And how would Ethan have gotten those pictures? And if you noticed, Denise was mostly hidden. She knew where to position herself to allow for the least amount of exposure."

"Why? Why would she do something like that?"

"I don't know. And I don't know how much of Garrett's plan she knows about. Maybe she only thinks he's trying to take Moran down."

"Send Ross a text and let him know. Maybe he can find out something on that end."

By this time, we had reached the third floor. Bobby paused and sent the text to Ross. Then we cautiously left the stairwell and closed the door quietly behind us. The hall was empty.

"What do you want to do? Start knocking on doors?"

"Let's just listen," Bobby suggested. "If Judge Garrett is here, I don't imagine he'll be too happy when Ethan tells him that it was Logan who bailed him out of jail."

We walked slowly down the hall, each taking a side and pausing at the doors to listen. I heard a couple of babies crying and a dog barking, but nothing more.

"Eames, come here," Bobby whispered. He was at the last apartment on the left. He pulled out his weapon, so I did the same. I crossed the hall and stood beside Bobby with my ear flattened to the door.

"You idiot! They could have followed you!" It was absolutely, without a doubt, Judge Garrett. I will never forget that voice.

"They didn't!" Ethan insisted. "I was real careful."

"Obviously not careful enough! You let that woman run you off the road? You were supposed to kill her, and instead you end up in a ditch! That's twice you let her get the best of you. I guess I should know by now not to send a boy to do a man's job."

We moved out of the way so that we were leaning up against the apartment wall just next to the door.

"What do you want to do?" I whispered to Bobby. We should wait for back-up. I knew that. Bobby knew that. But neither of us wanted to wait. I wanted Garrett so bad I could taste it. I wanted to smack that pompous look right off his face.

"We could go back outside and keep an eye on him," Bobby suggested unenthusiastically.

"And give him more time to try to smear our names? If he's got a computer in there, he could be doing more damage as we speak."

"We don't have a warrant."

"We followed a suspect into this building. We're looking at him for assault on a police officer, right?" I was grasping. I hadn't filed a report about the break-in at my apartment or the subsequent beating that took place, but I thought I could find a way around that.

"No, Eames. I'm not going to let you do that."

"You're going to pick now to go by the book?" I asked hotly, mostly because I was frustrated that I knew he was right. I wasn't that kind of cop and we both knew it. He just looked at me and tilted his head a little.

"Okay," I admitted. "I know you're right. Big surprise. So now what?"

"Ethan violated his parole," Bobby said finally.

"What?"

"He's not living at the address that his p.o. has listed. And he didn't report in this month. He's violated his parole, and we watched him walk into this building."

"I could kiss you right now," I told him with a grin. "But that would be very unpartnerlike of me. So let's get this pervert instead." Bobby grinned back at me and moved to the other side of the door, both of us with weapons ready.

"We knock and give him to the count of three to open the door."

TBC...


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: I've kind of been doing this anyway, but to keep it from getting confusing now that both Garretts are in the same room, if I say "Garrett" then I'm talking about Hot Tub Harry. If I'm talking about Ethan, I'll just call him Ethan.

* * *

**Bobby POV**

* * *

I pounded on the door with my right hand while holding my gun steady in my left.

"NYPD! Open up!"

Silence.

Alex held up her left hand and used her fingers to count down from three. Just as she started to lower her last finger, Garrett spoke up.

"Come on in, Detectives. We haven't got all day."

I looked at Alex and she returned my worried gaze. I heard Logan talking in my ear, even though he couldn't hear us.

"Goren, I'm five minutes out. Wait for me." He knew me too well. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he knew I wasn't going to wait for anyone.

I reached down and turned the knob. We maintained our positions outside the doorway even after I opened the door. All was still quiet. I nodded at Alex and let her go in first. I knew she wouldn't have it any other way. She whipped around the corner and entered the room, and then moved to her right. I stayed on her heels and went to the left, taking in every detail of the apartment in a matter of seconds.

The living room was sparsely furnished. A hallway branched out directly across from us. The kitchen was to the left, closest to me now, and for that I was grateful. Because in the kitchen stood Harold and Ethan Garrett, each with a gun pointed directly at Eames.

"Close the door," Garrett ordered. I used my foot to swing the door shut, my eyes never leaving our suspects.

"Well, well. Detective Goren. You're powers of observation are astounding. My worthless son has been following you for more than a week, and yet you weren't even aware of it until I wanted you to be. How you ever got a shield is beyond me."

I let his comment roll off of me as I shifted my weight and tried to ease my way in between the Garretts and Alex, but of course she would have none of that. Neither would Judge Garrett.

"Uh uh, I don't think so," he said to me, motioning with his gun for me to step aside. "We're going to kill her first, and I would hate for you to get in the way of that."

_He's bluffing. He's not a killer_, I told myself. I needed to get a grip on the situation and having two guns pointed at Alex's head were not helping matters. _He's not a killer_. He was a pervert and a rapist, but he didn't _kill_ anyone. Except Marcus Rodgers. Okay, so maybe one of them was a killer.

"What's the plan here, Judge?" I asked. I knew he wasn't a judge anymore, but some titles stick.

"First off, you're both going to put your weapons down."

I hesitated. I never liked using my gun, but I knew that some times it was necessary. This was one of those times.

"Do it now, or I kill her."

"You're going to kill her anyway, aren't you?" I asked with nonchalance that I was nowhere near feeling. I was amazed that my voice didn't shake.

Garrett seemed to think about that for a moment.

"Do it now, or I kill her slowly. _After_ I let Ethan have a turn with her."

Game, set, match. I put down my gun and so did Alex.

"You two standing in the kitchen with guns pointed at my head doesn't impress me," Alex said. _Huh? _And then I knew. Eames had clicked on her mike. She was letting Logan and Carolyn know that we were in deep shit. _Best damn partner ever. _

"I thought you were all about being a big manly man," she continued. "It doesn't take a big man to use a gun. My partner here, he's a big man. I don't think I've ever seen him fire his gun."

"Detective Goren doesn't know what it means to be a man," Garrett countered. "Although I do give him credit for the effort." With that, he gestured toward the laptop that was sitting on the kitchen counter. I had missed that in my quick scan of the room, but I could see it clearly now.

The screen was filled with a picture of me and Alex, and I had her pinned up against my front door. It was shot from behind, so all that could be seen of her was her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms around my neck. But me, I had my pants around my ankles. _Great._

I heard Alex suck in a breath. Garrett was trying to throw us off with that picture, so I wasn't going to let him. If he wanted to play the role of macho lover, then I was going to see what he had.

"That wasn't one of the ones that you printed out for us," I replied casually despite the heat rising in my face. "That's a good one, too. I'll have to get a copy of that later."

And then my Alex got her feet back under her, too.

"Are you suggesting that you could do better?" she asked. "With your strained back and your bad knees…"

"And your herniated groin?" I added in a low voice, as though it were a secret.

"This is not about that!" Garrett shouted suddenly. His face colored a dark red and he started waving the gun around. "This is about you two, and those other detectives, and that damn doctor – all of you! You took my career away from me! You took my life!"

"You did that to yourself," Alex refuted. "We weren't the ones who forced you to have sex with a drunk and drugged sixteen year old girl."

Ethan had been quiet throughout the exchange, although he still pointed his gun at Alex.

"And what about you, Ethan? What's your stake in this? Still letting Daddy run your life?"

"Leave him out of this!" Garrett bellowed.

"Oh, he's in it. You brought him in it. He's going back to prison, just like you."

"We're not going anywhere. I've got enough dirt on your chief to keep him on a leash for years. He's going to do what I say, when I say it."

And then I heard Logan in my ear.

"We're outside, me and Barek. Want us to come in?"

"No!" Alex yelled. I guess Logan had been talking to her, too. "We've got the pictures. You don't have anything on him anymore," she covered. Great thinking, Eames. Now you'll get them going with each other…

"What's she talking about, saying she's got the pictures?" Garrett asked Ethan. "Where's the camera?"

"It was in the car," Ethan admitted. His gun was wavering a little, and he seemed to be losing his commitment to the game.

"You idiot! You left it in the car? We hadn't gotten the Moran picture off of there yet!"

"I was getting arrested, _Dad_. What was I supposed to do?"

"Yeah, that's right. You were getting arrested because you let that little _bitch_ get the upper hand. Didn't I teach you better than that, how to deal with a woman?"

To make his point, Garrett aimed his gun at me while taking the steps needed to get right in front of Alex. Then, before I could react, he reached out and backhanded Alex across the face. She stumbled backwards a couple of steps, but kept her feet.

I lurched toward him, but he pulled the hammer back on his revolver and shoved it in my face.

"You're no kind of man, Detective," he said derisively. "And neither are you, boy!" he called to Ethan. "You're both a couple of pathetic losers."

"Yeah, and you're God's gift to women, right?" Alex snapped back. "I bet you can't even get it up anymore."

"We're dying out here," Logan piped in. "Say something!"

"I bet," Alex continued, never letting up with her taunts. She was good and truly pissed. "I bet those boys in prison had _so_ much fun with you. And look at you, you couldn't even fight back much, could you? Or did you even want to? Did you just lay there and take it? Like a _man_?"

Garrett whipped around and hit Alex again, this time with the butt of his gun. Her head jerked back again, but since he'd used his gun to hit her, he was no longer pointing it at me. I went at him like an all-pro linebacker and the two of us went sprawling down the hallway.

"Logan!" Alex shouted as she dove down behind the couch. Ethan fired a shot. Logan and Barek burst through the door. More shots went off while I easily wrestled the gun out of Garrett's hand.

"Clear!" I called after I had tossed the weapon to the other end of the hall. I kept my head down and maintained a stranglehold on Garrett's throat while I waited for the call from the other room.

"Clear," Logan said after another moment.

"Eames!" I yelled out immediately.

"I'm fine," she replied. I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding, and then got to my feet. I pulled Garrett up roughly and slammed him into the wall. And then again. And then one more time just to make sure that I had him subdued. I wouldn't want him to get away or anything. I slapped the cuffs on him and read him his rights as I walked him into the living room. Alex had Ethan under control and was Mirandizing him as well.

"I think you broke my ribs, you neanderthal!" Garrett cried out.

"You're lucky I'm the one who tackled you and not her," I told him, gesturing toward Eames. We shoved both bound suspects onto the couch and left Barek to stand watch over them while Alex, Logan and I went into the kitchen.

"What does 'wait for back-up' mean to you two?" Logan asked, glaring at us reproachfully.

"Probably about the same thing that it means to you," Alex said back sharply. Her face had to be hurting like hell. Her lip was split open again, and she had an ugly cut on her cheekbone. Garrett was wearing a ring. For a non-violent man, I was feeling pretty vicious. I wanted to take him in a back alley somewhere, just me and him.

"Good point," Logan conceded with a grin. "Now what?"

"Now we call for back-up," I said. "We get these two into custody at 1PP. And we wipe that hard drive clean," I added with a nod in the direction of the laptop. Alex reached over and slammed it closed before Logan got a good look at it.

"And you should get a CSU team here," Logan said. "Ross had a nice little chat with Denise, and she's singing like a canary. She admits to delivering the file to Moran, and to setting up the whole blackmail photo thing. I don't think anyone else in the department was involved."

"Okay. I'll call CSU," Alex agreed. "But I'm taking the laptop with me."

"Eames," I began. Removing evidence from a crime scene was not the best idea...

"I'll voucher it," she assured me. "I'm just going to pick which tech gets to look it over. And I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to delete an irrelevant thing or two before its gets to the lab."

She gave me a grin and I was undone. She was the whole package, my Eames. I smiled back. _We're going to go on a vacation after this. _

"Hey! Ever hear of a thing called police brutality, Detective?" Garrett called from his spot on the couch. "I'll have you writing traffic tickets in Hoboken!"

I ignored him, but Barek didn't. Logan crossed the room to stand next to her.

"You know, I don't work for the department anymore," she said softly. "I'm a private citizen."

"I know who you are," Garrett said haughtily. "You've latched onto that mutt there."

"All I'm saying is, I'm not a cop."

"I get it. I'm not stu…" he couldn't get the whole word out of his mouth before Carolyn punched him square in the nose. She followed that up with another blow to the eye that jerked his head so hard he was sure to get whiplash.

"No police brutality. That's all I'm saying," she told him with a little smile.

TBC...


	18. Chapter 18

**Alex POV**

* * *

The events at the Garretts didn't go exactly as planned, but at least we had them in custody. I would have much rather come out of the situation with a little less facial bruising, but it was better than a gunshot wound and for awhile there that had been a distinct possibility. So I was going to count my blessings.

I kept the Garretts' laptop in my hands for the entire ride to 1PP. I let Bobby drive so that I could take a look at the pictures that were on the hard drive. I still had the memory card from Ethan's camera in my pocket, so I pulled it out and put it in the card reader on the laptop and copied all of the me-and-Bobby pictures. There weren't any other dirty pictures of anyone else on the laptop, just us. The rest of the ones on there just appeared to be standard surveillance photos, including ones of Marcus Rodgers. I always did have Garrett pegged as being a little obsessed with Bobby, and more than a little jealous, so it didn't surprise me that we seemed to be his main focus.

I slipped the card out of the machine and put it back in my pocket. I quickly sealed the computer into a new evidence bag. It was _so_ very not like me to mess with any evidence, but I thought this was an acceptable exception. This was me, naked. And it had no real bearing on the case. _Very_ acceptable exception.

When we got to 1PP, I immediately handed off the laptop to a tech I respected. I knew there was plenty of damning evidence on there, and I wanted to make sure it was all recovered. I carefully filled out the proper form to transfer chain of custody. If the tech wondered why I was the one bringing in the laptop, he didn't ask.

Garrett had apparently been planning his revenge for quite some time, but he hadn't planned for everything. He hadn't planned on us being able to stay focused on the investigation while our reputations were being trampled upon.

And we almost didn't, especially combined with the fear of our relationship being discovered, but we prevailed. And if we were able to make it through this first, most difficult test then I have no doubt we'll be just fine.

It was two days later before we were able to completely unravel all of the facts. We signed our last bit of paperwork related to the case and then left the office. We met Carolyn and Logan at a nearby bar.

"Wrap it all up?" Logan asked by way of greeting.

"I think so," Bobby told him. We sat down in the booth across from our friends and each ordered a beer. "Garrett's going to take a deal. He knows how the system works. He was quick to say that Ethan was the one who killed Marcus in exchange for being allowed the possibility of parole."

"So he gave up his son."

"In a second. Of course, we had them both dead to rights either way, and Garrett is certainly guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, blackmail, attempted murder – you name it. I had to attach a second sheet to finish listing the charges on my report."

"And Ethan?"

"He's going to take his chances with a trial, but he'll get life for sure."

"So what was Denise's story?" Carolyn asked. "I would never have pegged her for getting involved with that."

"She wasn't, really," I said. "She didn't know about anything except the blackmailing of Moran."

"She had money issues," Bobby explained. "Garrett looked for a weak link in the department and he found her. She needed money. So he paid her to set up Moran, and to deliver that one file to his desk. She didn't even know what was in the file."

"So she slept with him for money. Wow," Logan said, shaking his head.

"I know," Carolyn agreed. "There's not enough money in the world for that."

"She got off easy, though," I said. "An official reprimand in her file, and a transfer to a less-prestigious job. And I'm sure there's a confidentiality clause in there somewhere."

"So Moran got off the hook, too? His wife will never know about his affair?"

"So to speak. Ross has him by the short hairs. He told him about the picture. Garrett had threatened Moran with the photo, but he didn't know for sure it existed, so when Ross told him he's actually _seen_ it, well…"

"Let's just say that Ross can pretty much write his own ticket."

"Does Moran know that you two saw it?" Logan asked.

"Ross was a little vague about all of the details. But Moran called off the IAB investigation pretty quickly, and there'll be an article in tomorrow's paper that basically calls me and Eames heroes."

The waitress delivered our beers, and Logan promptly held up his bottle.

"Well, let's drink to the heroes then."

"That's you guys, too," I said. "We couldn't have done it without you."

"That's right," Bobby added. "We owe you. If you ever find yourselves in any trouble, you know who to call."

"Damn straight," Logan agreed with a grin. "At two a.m."

Later that night, I was stretched out comfortably on Bobby's couch with my head resting in his lap. His fingers ran gently through my hair, and if I could purr, that's what I would be doing.

"We need to go by the morgue and talk to Rodgers tomorrow," Bobby said quietly.

"I know. I had hoped we would have time today, since this was her first day back at work, but we'll go first thing in the morning."

"She held up like a pro during this whole thing. I see her in a whole different light now."

I couldn't help myself. I had to say it.

"She sure as hell sees you in a whole new light." I felt as well as heard the laughter rumbling through him. I turned onto my back so that I could see his face.

"What?" he asked after I watched him for several minutes. He still had the smile on his face, and I couldn't keep one from mine either.

"You're happy," I stated.

"I am," he agreed, his fingers moving to caress my face.

"It's a beautiful thing, Bobby. I wasn't sure if I would ever get to see it."

"It's because of you."

"Don't say that," I argued gently. "It's you. You've made the choice to let yourself be happy. This past week, there have been so many times where this relationship could have gone off the rails. And if we had tried this thing a few months ago, hell even a few weeks ago, I think we would've run into some trouble."

Bobby contemplated that for a moment and I waited patiently for his thoughts to settle. His hands, those wonderfully caring hands, never ceased their movement and I felt my eyes start to close.

"How much of that Declan interview did you watch, Alex?" he asked suddenly. I opened my eyes and saw him staring at me intently.

"I watched it all."

"I thought that maybe you did. And then afterwards, you still wanted to be with me. So, _you_ made me feel that I was good enough, that I deserved to be happy." That was my Bobby – never wanting to accept the credit for anything.

"Okay, yeah, you're right. It was _all_ me," I said with a grin. I sat up suddenly and straddled his lap. "And you're going to be indebted to me for the rest of your life," I teased.

"As long as I'm _with_ you, that's fine with me."

TBC...


	19. Chapter 19

**Bobby POV**

* * *

We started our day with a trip to the morgue. No, that's not right. We _started_ our day with a slow-paced, easy love-making session that damn near made us both want to call in sick. But it would look suspicious and we had a lot to do, so we forced ourselves out of bed. I may be pushing fifty, but Alex sure makes me feel like I'm in my prime.

So we got to the morgue around nine.

"Detectives!" Rodgers called out affectionately. "What brings you down here? I don't see your name on any of my cases today."

"Personal," I said. "When you get a minute."

Rodgers looked back and forth between Alex and me, and then shrugged.

"This guy's not going anywhere. Just let me wash up." Two minutes later, she joined us in the hallway.

"What's on your mind, Detectives?"

"We just wanted to see how you're doing," I began.

"And you wanted to get this first, awkward meeting-at-work-after-seeing-you-naked thing over with," she said bluntly. Alex started laughing, but I couldn't stop the blush.

"I…um…" I couldn't even think of anything to say. While I did want to see how she was doing, she was exactly right about the rest. It was weird enough seeing her at Logan's house, but we were still caught up in the investigation then, and we weren't in our usual venue. I was afraid this would be different.

"It's fine, Detective. I won't breathe a word of it ever again, not even to you," she assured me.

"Thank you," I said, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"We appreciate your discretion, Liz," Alex said. "And we wanted to tell you how great you were during this whole investigation. You stayed calm and professional. And you helped us out tremendously with Ross. We would've never convinced him to back us up without your help."

"It was my pleasure. I was glad to be able to do…something that would help us move forward. I've always liked you two, and I wanted to be able to put things right with us."

"Well you have. You did. As far as I'm concerned, we have a clean slate," I told her.

"Oh, and congratulations," Alex said. "I hear that Ross was able to tell Moran that you guys are married."

"Amazing what the threat of a dirty picture will do for you, huh?"

"Well, we'd better get to the office. I'm sure we'll be back here soon enough," Alex told her. We turned to walk away before Liz called out.

"Detective Goren." We turned around and looked back.

"Yeah?"

"If I may say, just one more thing, and then I promise to never speak of it again," she said. She was smiling, and I was instantly on alert.

"Okay," I said slowly. Rodgers gave me a slow once-over with her eyes.

"You have got one damn fine ass."

* * *

My skin color had finally gone back to normal by the time we reached the eleventh floor of 1PP. Alex had laughed most of the way, and once I got over my initial mortification, I managed to chuckle a little myself.

We worked quietly across from each other for a few hours, taking care of paperwork that had been neglected.

"I have an errand I need to do at lunch," Alex told me at a little before noon.

"Want me to come with you?"

"No, but it won't take me too long. I'll bring us back some sandwiches and we can eat here, okay?" I was a little suspicious, but of what I wasn't even sure. What would she be doing at lunch that she didn't want me to know about?

"I'll tell you when I get back," she said, even though I hadn't asked the question out loud. She stood up and grabbed her coat, flashing me a quick grin before heading out. I watched her walk away, and then looked around swiftly to make sure that no one had seen me ogling Eames' ass.

I had been working for about twenty minutes or so when I heard Ross come out of his office. He was only working half-days right now, so I assumed he was just getting ready to leave, but instead he came to my desk.

"Can I speak with you for a minute in my office?"

"Now? Eames will be back in about thirty minutes." _Please wait for Eames_. Despite what we'd been through over the past several days, I still liked having that buffer that she provided between me and the boss.

"No, just you. I was waiting for her to leave." _Oh, shit, this cannot be good_.

I got up and followed him slowly to his office, like a condemned man walking to the gallows. Ross waited at the door, and then closed it behind me. _Shit_.

"Bobby," he said after taking a seat on the edge of his desk. This could not be good. He _never _called me Bobby. "I know."

"Sir?"

"I know."

"I'm sorry Captain, I'm not following you. You know what?"

"I know all about it. I saw the picture."

I couldn't move. I was literally paralyzed.

"Picture?"

"There was one on the laptop that was recovered from the Garretts' apartment."

"A picture," I repeated lamely.

"I understand that you don't want it getting around the office. Something like that, when it's new, sometimes you just want to keep it to yourself. And I won't say anything, but I just wanted you to know that I know. In case you ever wanted to talk or anything. Maybe we can get a beer some time."

It was like I could see the words coming out of his mouth and floating around my head, but I just couldn't quite grasp them.

"So you know."

"That's right."

"And you're okay with it."

"Sure, why not?"

"But…okay." I stopped myself from saying anything stupid. If he knew about it, and he was okay with it, then who was I to argue?

"Oh, looks like your partner's back. You better get back to it."

I stood up to leave Ross' office, but then he stopped me.

"I've got to ask you."

"What?"

"What does Eames say about it? Does she know?"

"Does she know what?" I asked slowly.

"Goren, where is your head today? Does she know about your new girlfriend or is it a secret from her, too? She'd probably give you hell about it, wouldn't she?" Ross chuckled and slapped me on the back.

And then I realized that he had absolutely no idea what he was talking about it, and I burst out laughing.

"Captain, you have no idea how much hell Eames would give me if I told her I had a new girlfriend!"

"Well, it'll be our secret then. You kept one for me. I'll keep one for you." We even shook on it. I knew Ross was trying to be a nice guy, a friend maybe even, and I knew most of that probably stemmed from pressure that Rodgers was putting on him.

But, as much as I liked Rodgers, there was no way in hell I was going out for a beer with him, and nothing was going to keep me from thinking what a complete idiot he was for being so far off the mark.

I smiled all the way back to my desk.

"So where'd you sneak off to?" I asked Alex when I approached.

"Uh uh. You first."

"Me first what?"

"Why did you come out of Ross' office looking so damn happy?" I didn't say anything, but instead picked up a couple of files off my desk and gestured for her to follow me into a conference room. I closed the door.

"Well, first of all, let me say that you didn't do a very good job deleting the photos from Garrett's laptop." Her face instantly fell, but then she recovered. If I was smiling, then she had to know Ross hadn't seen anything.

"I left something on there?"

"Apparently. The one that Garrett had up when we were there in his apartment. You know, the one that shows _my_ backside nicely, but conveniently hides _your _face."

"How did I miss that?" she asked. "Wait, I didn't miss it. It's on the memory card!"

"So you've looked at those again?" I asked suddenly. We hadn't talked about the memory card yet. I had wanted to ask, but hadn't wanted to seem over-eager.

"Well," she admitted. "You did leave me alone two nights ago."

"You said you wanted to take the night for yourself!"

"I know. And I did. But after I cleaned the dust from my apartment and did a load of laundry, I was ready to come back to your place."

"You should have. I wasn't doing anything," I admitted.

"I thought you might enjoy the time to yourself."

"Eames, I was bored out of my mind. Next time, we'll clean and do laundry together, okay?" She nodded and gave me another smile.

"So how do you know there was a picture still on the laptop?" she asked, getting the conversation back on track. And then she muttered to herself, "He must have had another copy in a second folder. Was it his _desktop background_?"

"Ross saw it," I said, interrupting her foreign computer-speak. She looked up at me sharply.

"Of course, he didn't recognize you so he thinks I have a girlfriend and that it's a secret."

"What? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! Why would you keep it a secret?"

"You mean if it weren't my partner? I have no idea. He has this theory that you would give me a hard time about it or something and that I don't want to jinx the relationship by telling people yet." I filled her in on the rest of the conversation with Ross, and I was afraid she was going to split her lip open again from laughing so hard.

"So you almost admitted to it when he had no idea? Way to go, genius."

"Hey, I held back! Now your turn. Where'd you have to go so mysteriously at lunch?"

"I'll show you." She led me out of the conference room and back to our desks. She pulled a file from her top drawer and handed it to me casually as though it was just a case we were working on. I opened it. It wasn't a case. It was two tickets to Mexico.

"Got your passport?"

**The end…for now**


End file.
